


Miracles Do Happen

by Aini_NuFire



Series: New Beginnings [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Adorable Castiel (Supernatural), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Humor, Angst with a Happy Ending, Big Sister Alex, De-Aged Castiel (Supernatural), Fix-It of Sorts, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Grieving Dean Winchester, Grieving Sam Winchester, Heartbreak, Heavy Angst, Hopeful Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Castiel (Supernatural), Memory Loss, Mom Jody, New Beginnings, Post-Episode: s12e23 All Along the Watchtower, Protective Dean Winchester, Sick Castiel, sort of character un-death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-30
Updated: 2017-07-31
Packaged: 2018-11-21 12:38:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 31,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11357682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aini_NuFire/pseuds/Aini_NuFire
Summary: After Cas dies, something unexpected happens to the shards of his scattered grace, and the Winchesters suddenly find themselves with a baby whose blue eyes look uncannily familiar.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Don't ask me where this fic came from because I have no idea. The muse must have eaten some questionable mushrooms. 0_o
> 
> Some warnings up front:
> 
> 1\. First chapter picks up where the season 12 finale left off, so major character death has happened.
> 
> 2\. This is not really a "fix-it" fic. I wanted it to be when I first started, but that's not what ended up happening in this story. "Our Cas" is not magically coming back. However, I think it still ends on a happy-ish note. Maybe a bittersweet one. But also hopeful.
> 
> And there will be lots of adorable kid!Cas to break up the major angst.
> 
> Disclaimer: Not mine. Thank you to Miyth for always indulging me talking about fic ideas, even when they're crazy, and to 29Pieces for beta reading, even when it's heartbreaking!

 

Dean couldn't feel his legs. He should move, get up…do something. But he just kept staring at Cas's face, lax in death. Dean had seen him like this only once before, three years ago in that reaper's apartment, Cas tied to a chair and then stabbed. Just like now.

Except this time was different. There were ashy wing prints seared into the ground, and somehow that made this death, out of all the others, seem more permanent.

But it couldn't be. Not after everything. Not like this.

Dean wanted to reach out and grab the lapels of Cas's coat, wanted to shake him and yell that he get his feathery ass back here. Because Cas always came back. Dean had been here before, had watched a Leviathan-possessed Castiel walk into a reservoir and disappear, had assumed he was dead. He came back, though. He _always_ came back.

But there hadn't been wing prints that time, or a body left behind. This- this…

There was a burst of light from the house, a whomp on the air, and Dean jolted. He blinked, realizing that Sam wasn't beside him anymore.

_No, no, not Sammy too_.

Dean staggered to his feet and took an unsteady step toward the house, only to stop as something shifted in the shadows along the siding. Dark ivy was rapidly crawling up the exterior of the house like it was on steroids. Fuchsia florets exploded in a cascading wave, each individual flower blossoming with a spark of golden light as they went, like fairies bursting from cocoons. Dean could only stand there, staring stupidly.

The back door banged open as Sam came barreling out, looking harried. He opened his mouth as though to say something, but stopped when he caught Dean's gaze, and then he whirled back toward the house. His stupor only lasted a second, though, before he was turning to Dean again.

"The nephilim," Sam gasped. "It- it's _fully grown_."

Dean couldn't take his eyes off the lush ivy, mesmerized for a moment at how so much beauty could be thriving at the site of so much death.

" _Dean_."

He started. "It doing this?" he asked, voice gravelly, and he nodded to the house being draped in purple blossoms. That wasn't normal.

"I don't know. He disappeared right after I found him. I have no idea where he's gone."

_Good riddance_.

Dean knew he shouldn't think that, knew that this baby-God was most likely a threat to the world, but he couldn't bring himself to care about that now; he was still too numb.

The air felt heavy, cloying, almost musky with magic. Something cracked behind them, and Dean turned to see golden ripples shimmering across the lake. The faint glow illuminated the churning water as it rapidly turned to ice. Yeah, bring on the end of the world.

But the earth didn't split and the sky didn't fracture. A blue ember winked into existence centimeters from Dean's face, and he jerked away. There was a rustle like a breeze through leaves, yet there was no wind.

Another blue spark flickered in the dark, then another. Soon there were dozens of azure specks floating in the air, across the ground, and all around them. Most…most were concentrated near Cas's body. The scattered remnants of stardust being pulled back together.

The embers trickled along the ground and down from the air, all converging in a single spot a few feet away. Dean held his breath, one name a desperate, unspoken prayer on his lips.

The sapphire specks began to collide, and each time they did, a golden thread zinged across them, binding them together. The gossamer aura grew more condensed, and as it did the light grew brighter, until Dean had to shield his eyes from the intensity.

The air crinkled, almost too thick to breathe, and Dean felt magic prickle across the hairs on the back of his neck.

Then the light faded, and Dean lowered his arm. He heard the gurgling cry of a baby in his ears before his eyes registered what he was seeing. On the ground where that energy had coalesced into…something, was now a squalling infant. Its face scrunched up as its wails increased, tiny limbs flailing in the cold exposure.

That was it; Dean had to be in some kind of bizarro world again. When they'd come back through the rift, it'd been to the wrong reality. And Cas hadn't really… Dean's gaze went to his friend, still on the ground, still pale and growing colder by the minute. The baby's cries grew more insistent, more high-pitched, shattering the sober tranquility of the night.

Sam finally moved forward, approaching the infant cautiously. He crouched down and tentatively reached out to touch it. Dean tensed.

The child let out a whimper, but stopped crying.

Sam sucked in a surprised gasp. "Dean." He flicked a bewildered look toward Cas, then back to the baby.

Dean frowned. The edges of what his brother must suddenly be thinking were just within Dean's grasp, but he refused to let himself go there, because _no way_. This was crazy.

Yet he couldn't stop himself from shuffling a couple of steps closer. And when he peered down at the infant…crystal blue eyes were gazing back up at him.

Dean stood there dumbly. No. No, it wasn't possible. Cas was lying dead just to his left. This baby had to be…had to be the nephilim or something. Except Sam said _that_ kid was fully grown and already flown the coop. And the blue eyes, the dark hair…no, it didn't mean anything.

It started crying again, a raucous, discordant sound that grated on Dean's ears. Sam quickly shrugged out of his jacket and then wrapped the baby up snugly in it. With careful, ginger movements, he picked the infant up and cradled it in his arms. The thing instantly quieted now that it was warm and secure.

Sam raised a freaked-out look to Dean. "You don't think…?"

"How, Sam?" he retorted sharply. He knew he should be more unnerved than angry, but his emotions were a crackling maelstrom on the inside. "That's not…it can't be…" Dean jerked a hand toward where Cas's body was still lying on the ground, sooty ash from broken wings splayed out around him.

Sam clamped his mouth shut and glanced between Cas and this…whatever it was. "Okay, then what do we do?"

Dean desperately cast about for an answer, had several ready on his tongue. Mom was trapped with Lucifer in that mirror universe and they needed to get her back. The nephilim was on the loose and who knew how much havoc it would wreak. Cas was…they needed to bury him. And then there was _this_ …

Dean cleared his throat. "There's a crib inside, right? Stick it there and help me—" His harsh tone cracked. "Help me with Cas," he ground out through a throat trying to close up completely.

Sam hesitated for a brief moment, but then ducked his gaze and started past Dean, carrying the baby into the house.

Dean turned to Cas again, and as the paralyzing shock of what happened finally began to fade, the tears welled up, blurring his vision. Dean tipped his head back to swallow them, breathed in sharply through his nose. The hot moisture burned his eyes.

Cas deserved a hunter's pyre. He was an honorary Winchester, after all. But Dean couldn't bring himself to even consider burning the body. Because there was still a chance Cas could come back. He always came back…

Dean's thoughts turned to the unexplained baby that had fallen in their laps, rather than the nephilim they'd been expecting. And the way those blue embers had…

He wrenched himself away from that line of thought. No, that thing wasn't _Cas_ , because if Cas were truly back, he'd be standing here next to Dean, giving him that pained, sympathetic look and promising that they would find Mary together. Maybe even promising to make it up to Dean that he'd died, after Dean _told_ him never to do that again. Hell, maybe Cas would get up, shake off death like in the past, and then immediately run after his baby-God. Dean thought he could maybe even take that happening, as long as Cas was alive, as long as they had a chance to find him again.

Dean tore himself away and headed to the car to retrieve some shovels. There still was that chance. Cas didn't always come back _right_ away. Maybe he just needed some time. Or maybe Dean could somehow convince Chuck to come back, or find a spell, _something_ …

But an inkling in the back of his mind whispered that maybe it wasn't going to be that simple.

* * *

Sam stood over the mound of freshly sifted earth as dawn suffused through a pewter sky. It was a somber morning, heavy with the pall of grief. Sam stuffed his dirt-smeared hands in his pockets. They should find a marker of some kind…though nothing seemed appropriate. What mundane object was worthy as a memorial to an ethereal being like an angel? They- they should have burned him. That would have been a proper send-off, a respectful one that Cas deserved.

Sam understood why they hadn't, though. Kelly, also, was buried a few yards away.

A chill breeze off the still frozen lake in the middle of May pricked his eyes, making them sting and water. Or maybe that was everything else. The past week, all the people they'd lost…Sam was at his breaking point.

He worried his brother was already past his.

Sam slid a sidelong look toward Dean, who was a silent statue of granite beside him. He hadn't said a word through the digging, through the process of reverently wrapping up Cas's body and laying him to rest, of burying him in the warm embrace of earth as though it would keep him safe until…

Sam flicked an uncertain glance back at the house. He'd laid the baby boy in the crib, wrapped him warmly in a blanket that had been meant for another, and left him there while he and Dean saw to Cas. Sam was torn, though, torn between believing they really had just buried their best friend, and believing that somehow, Cas was still alive, still with them. How else to explain where that kid had come from? Those blue embers last night looked so much like pieces of an angel's grace.

But while part of Sam desperately hoped it was true, that Cas _was_ _alive_ , he honestly had no frickin' idea what they were supposed to do with a baby angel.

He waited for Dean to be the first to move, to break the throbbing bubble of grief and mourning they were suspended in. When he did, it was with a wordless turn back toward the house. Sam followed silently.

They went inside and up to the nursery that Cas and Kelly had readied for another child. The name "Jack" was painted on the wall, which gave Sam pause.

…it wasn't exactly what he'd expect for the harbinger of the end of the world to be called.

Maybe that had been Kelly's hope.

Dean went to the crib, shoulders visibly stiff, spine rigid. The baby was asleep. Sam moved to stand on the opposite side and gazed down at the infant. His nerves were a jittery mesh of confusion, hope, and fear, and he could only imagine Dean was feeling the same.

His brother finally cleared his throat. "We need to start looking for this Jack, see how much damage he's causing."

Sam swallowed hard. "What about…?"

"We don't even know if it is Cas," Dean retorted gruffly. "And even if it is…" Pain flashed across his face, and he reached up to run a weary hand down his jaw. "Shit, Sam, we can't…we gotta find a way to save Mom. And probably the world. We can't do that with a baby."

Sam's mouth pressed into a tight line. He knew that was true, but it didn't make his heart hurt any less. "Yeah, you're right. Um." He wracked his brain for options, because if this was Cas, however small a chance, they couldn't just drop him at a fire station or something. "What about Jody? Maybe she can take care of him until we…figure things out."

"Yeah, sure," Dean said brusquely, and turned to walk away, leaving Sam to deal with the infant.

Sam gazed down at the child for a long moment, and then ever so tentatively, reached into the crib to touch one tiny hand. _I don't know if you can hear me, but…don't leave us_.

There were baby supplies everywhere, from diapers to clothes. Cas and Kelly had stockpiled everything, it looked like. Too bad the baby they'd been expecting turned out to be some kind of mutant monster that was now running wild. At least the stuff wouldn't go to waste, Sam thought ruefully.

He opened a box of diapers and grabbed a onesie from the dresser, then proceeded to get the baby dressed. The jostling woke him, and for several moments he just gazed up at Sam with a curious look that made Sam think he maybe wasn't losing his mind with his theory.

But then the baby started to gurgle and mewl, kicking at Sam when he tried to wrap him in the blanket again.

"Um, what is it? What's wrong?" He fumbled with the edges of the blanket, anxiously stroked the infant's shoulder in an effort to be gentle and not break him. But none of his soothing attempts worked.

Sam threw a look toward the door, wishing Dean would come back. He was the one who had more practice with taking care of babies. But his brother was having a hard enough time dealing with everything, and Sam didn't completely begrudge him for it. But he still didn't know what to do.

His gaze landed on some formula stacked neatly in a row atop the dresser. "Are you hungry?" he asked over the growing wailing. Obviously, he didn't get a confirmation, except for the continued crying.

"Um, okay, I'll be right back."

Sam took the formula downstairs to the kitchen and hastily read the instructions for mixing and warming it up. The container only gave a recommended temperature, though, and not how much time he should put it in the microwave for. And he wasn't exactly going to make it over the stove with a thermometer.

He found a baby bottle and mixed the powdered formula with water, then stuck it in the microwave and guessed at how long it needed to nuke for. Once done, he took it out and turned around, only to find Dean in the doorway, watching him with an almost detached look.

"Um, I think he's hungry. But we're almost ready to go. Oh, and we should pack up all the baby supplies so Jody doesn't have to buy stuff," Sam said.

"Yeah, sure." Dean finally pushed himself away from the door frame. "You test the temperature?"

Sam glanced at the bottle. "Yeah, it's warm."

Dean gestured for him to hand it over, so he did. Sam didn't take offense as Dean squirted some of the liquid onto his forearm.

He shook his head. "It's too hot. You have to be careful with the temperature. Babies are more sensitive."

Sam took a step back as Dean went to mix up a new batch. He watched his brother go about it like it was second nature; somehow, even after all these years, Dean remembered what it was like taking care of a little brother.

Dean squirted a few drops from the new bottle on his arm, then handed it to Sam. "I'll…go put the stuff in the car."

Sam dropped his gaze as Dean pushed past him and disappeared again. He didn't know what to say. Grief over losing someone was one thing, but dealing with the possibility that Cas wasn't really gone but they had no way of knowing…it just complicated things.

Sam went back upstairs and hurried to the crib where the baby was still crying. As soon as the bottle was in his mouth, he instantly quieted and started to suckle. Sam sighed in relief.

Dean came in a few minutes later and asked if there was anything from the nursery they should grab. Sam mentioned clothes, and the obvious diapers.

"I already grabbed six boxes from downstairs," Dean replied, eyeing the ones upstairs. Something like dark amusement flitted through his eyes, but he didn't share the thought, just went about opening dresser drawers and shoving baby clothes into a bag while Sam finished feeding the child.

Sam rubbed his hands on his jeans. "Okay, um, here we go." He gently lifted the kid out of the crib and into his arms, careful to support the back of his head. Sam remembered from somewhere that was important.

He brought the kid downstairs where Dean was waiting, and then without a word, they headed for the Impala. Sam gingerly eased himself into the passenger seat, then readjusted his hold to cradle the infant in his arms.

Dean slipped behind the wheel and started up the engine with a raucous rumble. Sam briefly wondered if the noise would scare the baby, but the kid didn't react. It was going to be a long drive to Sioux Falls, though.

Cas started fussing after an hour. Sam tried to rock him as best he could in the confines of the car—and was struck with how easily he fell into thinking of this baby _as_ _Cas_. But every time Sam looked down into those striking blue eyes, he couldn't not think it. Some way, somehow, this had to be a miracle.

He glanced at Dean, trying to gauge his brother's mood. They were both still raw and reeling from everything that had happened, from losing Mom so suddenly again, from watching Cas die right in front of them. But they needed to start figuring things out.

"I've been thinking about what happened," Sam spoke up carefully. "The nephilim's power was leaking or something, right? That's how the rift got opened in the first place."

"You thinking he's our key to getting Mom back?" Dean asked.

Sam paused. That was a potential course of action on that front. "Maybe. But, at the end there, with the weird stuff at the house right after he was born…it was like his power was flooding the area."

"And?"

Sam looked down at the infant sleeping in his arms. "And maybe somehow it…brought Cas back."

Dean snorted. "It didn't bring Cas _back_."

Sam winced. "Not- not like that, no. But…" He knitted his brows together in thought. "Remember Anna? When she cut out her grace and fell, and was reborn as a human? Maybe- maybe that's kind of what happened here. Obviously not exactly the same, because Cas didn't—" Sam abruptly cut off and briefly looked out the window to swallow back tears. He finally turned back. "I don't know how else to explain it."

Dean was silent for several moments. "So you think he's human now? That…" He flicked a glance at the baby. "Is human?"

Sam frowned. "I don't know. I think that was Cas's grace coming together."

But there were still wing prints on the ground, so did that mean he was still an angel? If he was reborn, would he get new wings too?

Sam shook his head in frustration. They really had no way of knowing. And feeling utterly helpless and at a loss was pretty much just as bad as if Cas was truly dead and gone forever.

Because Dean was right—what if it meant they wouldn't be getting their Cas back…


	2. Chapter 2

"FBI thinks it might have been a terrorist cell that just happened to accidentally blow themselves up," Jody said into her phone. She would have rolled her eyes at the idiotic story if it wasn't exactly the kind of cover she and the rest of the hunting community needed. "And I'm not exactly high enough in law enforcement to be watching customs, but I hope the rest of those British assholes think twice before crossing the Atlantic."

"We can hope," Garth replied. "At the very least, we showed them we won't go down without a fight. And now the feds—the real feds—will be on the lookout for more bases like theirs popping up, so they'd have to be really stupid to try again."

Jody agreed. But then, she'd spent most of her career dealing with stupidity run rampant. It was why criminals got caught.

"Thanks for keeping me in the loop," Garth added.

"Sure. I'd rather you oversee the hunter network anyway," she replied. "I've got enough on my plate."

Garth chuckled. "My pleasure. To be honest, I've kinda missed the action. But don't tell Bess I said that."

Jody smirked. "Um, you hear from Sam and Dean lately?"

A sigh crackled over the receiver. "Not since they called about the British Douche Squad, I'm afraid. But I'm sure those two hooligans are fine. They always are."

True, but that didn't keep her from worrying.

A knock sounded at the door. "I gotta go. Take care."

"You too."

She hung up and rose from the couch to go answer. To her surprise and utter relief, those two speak-of-the-devils were on her doorstep. Though, now that she knew _the_ Lucifer was running around topside, she should probably rethink using that phrase.

She wanted to chastise them for not keeping her informed, but didn't, because she figured going up against the Devil himself wasn't exactly a cake walk. And she wasn't sure that was a fight she necessarily wanted to get involved in. Talk about way out of her league.

Sam and Dean looked in one piece, though, if not a little sterner and severe than usual. And then her gaze dropped to the bundle in Sam's arms.

"Uh, is that Lucifer Jr.?"

Sam glanced down. "Um, no. It's…um…is Claire here?"

Jody frowned at the way he was fumbling for words. "No. She's still out on her journey to self-discovery." Jody quickly bit back a sigh. She didn't begrudge Claire's need to do that, as much as she wished the young woman had stayed here to learn hunting in a _safer_ environment. But Jody couldn't be one of those helicopter moms, especially since Claire was an adult now. According to state regulation. All Jody could do was provide guidance and a support system for when it was wanted.

"But I got a postcard from her today, so she's fine." Jody narrowed her eyes. "Why? What's up?"

Sam grimaced. "It's kind of a long story. Can we…?"

"Oh, yeah." She hastily backed up to let them in, now taking in their weary, almost defeated postures. "What happened?" She'd at least gotten a text from Sam a few days ago that they'd gotten Mary back and managed to undo the brainwashing, though he hadn't included any details. So where was their mother now?

They exchanged a pained look, and Jody's heart dropped into her stomach. After everything with Mary being programed by the British Men of Letters to kill them, Jody was afraid to ask if things could have even _gotten_ worse. But as they explained what happened when they confronted Lucifer, of the Devil and Mary getting thrown into an alternate reality and trapped there, of the angel Castiel, whom Jody had never met but had heard about from the boys and Claire, being killed, and how the nephilim was actually a 'freaky grown-ass man' running around somewhere…Jody had seen her fair share of weird as a hunter, but _this_? She needed a drink. Or ten. And it just kept getting more bizarre.

"So instead of the Devil's spawn, you end up with…Castiel, turned into a baby?" she said dubiously.

Sam rolled his shoulder. "We're…actually not sure."

"We buried Cas," Dean broke in abrasively. He'd been oddly quiet, letting Sam recount most of the telling. "We don't know where this kid came from."

Sam flicked a frustrated look at his brother, but didn't contradict him. He turned back to Jody with a strained expression. "We know it's a lot to ask, especially after what happened with Mom trying to kill you and the British Men of Letters, but…"

"But you two can't exactly take care of a baby while out trying to save the world," Jody finished for him. "I get it." She sighed, somewhat dismayed at herself, but she'd never been able to turn these boys down. Or a child in need. "Yeah, I can take care of him for you."

"Thank you, Jody," Sam said earnestly. "Really. And we have tons of baby supplies in the car: diapers and formula and clothes—"

"You came prepared, huh?" she interrupted, trying for a tenor of humor. It fell flat, as did the Winchesters' faces.

"It was all at the lake house," Sam admitted. "For when they thought the nephilim would be, you know, an actual baby."

What an ironic twist of events, not that Jody was going to say that out loud. She could see beneath the gruff exterior her two boys on the verge of breaking.

"Um, what are you going to tell Claire?" she suddenly thought to ask.

Dean abruptly got to his feet. "I'll get the supplies from the car." He turned and strode purposefully out of the house.

Sam's throat bobbed, and he cast an apologetic glance at Jody. "He's taking it hard."

"You both are."

Sam's eyes started to glisten before he swallowed again. "We saw Cas get killed right in front of us, by Lucifer. And then Mom…" He shook his head against a swell of emotion. "The Devil's taken so much from us," he whispered.

Jody's gaze shifted to the quiet bundle in Sam's gigantic arms. "But you think Castiel isn't really dead…?"

Sam glanced down and let out a strained half laugh. "I don't know. Maybe it's just my own wishful thinking, you know? That he's not really gone. Because…because he's always come back in the past."

Jody kept silent at that. She didn't know their whole history, but she'd heard bits of it. She was also reminded of the time her son had come back from the dead. She'd known, deep down, that it wasn't really him, but she'd been so desperate to have just a piece of him back, that she'd believed the lie. This wasn't even close to the same situation, but she understood that clawing hope that had the power to both save and shatter.

"May I hold him?" she asked.

Sam started as though in surprise, but after a brief flicker of hesitation, scooted forward on the couch to pass the precious cargo over. The baby let out a small hiccough as he was jostled, but otherwise continued to doze. Jody tucked one fold of his blanket under to get a look at his face. He certainly looked sweet.

Dean came back in, then, arms full of the promised supplies, which he deposited near the base of the stairs. He'd apparently carted everything to the doorstep in several trips before coming back inside, as he now proceeded to transfer boxes and boxes of diapers and formulas from the stoop to the entryway.

Jody's brows rose. "Wow." She was grateful she wouldn't have to go out for stuff, though.

Dean straightened, eyes flicking briefly to Jody's arms before he wrenched them away to Sam. "We should go. Sorry for the hit and run," he directed to Jody.

"It's fine," she said, getting to her feet. "I know you have a lot of work to do." And a lot of grief to process.

Dean nodded stiffly, shifting his weight as though to give her a hug like he always did, but the baby in her arms seemed to act as a repellant. His eyes did land on the child for a moment, though, and pain flashed across his face. "Um…" Dean gestured vaguely at him.

"I'll look after him until you resolve things," Jody promised.

"Thanks," he mumbled, and made his way back out through the door.

Sam hesitated before following. "Um, I don't know if we should tell Claire."

"About her father's body maybe being reincarnated as a kid, probably not," Jody snorted. The girl had enough issues.

"Yeah, no. I meant about…I think she and Cas were kind of getting along. And since we're not really sure about…" He nodded to the baby.

Jody's expression sobered. "I'll leave that up to you." She only hoped that whatever they decided would be the right thing.

A muscle in Sam's jaw ticked, but he gave a clipped nod in acceptance. "Thank you, Jody. Really. I- I don't know what we would do without you."

She offered him a wan attempt at an encouraging smile. "Be careful out there. And Sam."

He paused in the doorway.

"Kick it in the ass."

Whatever 'it' ended up being.

* * *

Alex pulled her car into the driveway behind Jody's truck, and was moderately relieved that there were no other unknown vehicles parked there. Ever since that incident last week, Alex had been a little on edge about that. Not the kind of stress she needed on top of preparing for finals and graduation.

She trudged her way into the house, only to pull up short at the mound of baby supplies stacked on the floor directly inside. Ookay, that was different.

"Jody?" Alex dropped her book bag in the living room and peeked into the kitchen. Nothing. She made her way upstairs, finally detecting the muffled sounds of grunts and thuds. When she reached the top landing, she found the attic door open and the drop-down ladder extended. There was more shuffling, followed by a box being dropped down through the hole to thunk on the floor. That and the other boxes already in the hallway were labeled 'Baby.'

"Uh, Jody?" Alex called.

Jody's head appeared above her. "Oh, hey, Alex. Watch your step."

Alex folded her arms across her chest. "Something I should know?" Jody didn't even _have_ a boyfriend right now, and it was definitely premature to be buying baby stuff when she wasn't even visibly showing a potential baby bulge.

But then a gurgle and cry issued from the nearby bedroom.

Jody stuck her head upside down through the gap and sighed. "Can you go check on him, please?"

Alex's brows rose sharply, but she didn't ask any more questions as she turned and went into Jody's bedroom to see for herself what was up. She found a baby swaddled in a blanket in the middle of Jody's bed, his securely-wrapped limbs trying to kick against their confines. His face scrunched up and he let out another fussy, frustrated sound.

Alex went over and liberated him from the blanket, then picked him up. He squirmed for a second before she settled him on her hip and gave him a few bounces. His crying stopped, and she was able to see his beautiful blue eyes blinking at her, wide and curious.

Alex turned and carried him out into the hall just as Jody was climbing down the ladder. "Okay, what's going on?"

"Sam and Dean stopped by earlier," Jody replied.

Alex arched a brow again. "And dropped something off…?" Her forehead creased. "Is it one of theirs?"

"No." Jody pursed her mouth. "Or, not exactly. They just needed to leave him here for a bit while they…deal with some stuff."

Alex snorted. Those guys were always 'dealing with some stuff.' Though, usually it was on the saving people or the world scale, so she couldn't exactly judge them for it. Still, dropping a baby into Jody's lap was random. Maybe they'd saved him from some monsters. But then where was his family? Or…did he not have any?

Alex felt a pang of sympathy, and she held the child a little closer. "They say how long?" she asked.

"Erm, no," Jody admitted, and went over to open one of the boxes.

Alex tried to suppress a sigh. With Jody's work schedule, why did she get the feeling she was gonna end up carrying the bulk of this responsibility?

"Do I get babysitting money?"

Jody tossed a wry look her way. "No. But I would appreciate some help with him."

Alex rolled her eyes dramatically. Figured. "Sure. So what's his name?"

Jody stopped her unpacking and hesitated. "Uh…Cas, I guess."

Alex frowned. "You're not sure? What, did the Winchesters kidnap him or something?"

"No," Jody scowled. "It's…complicated."

Alex huffed, and shifted her hold on the baby as he started to fidget. "You don't have to try to protect me from things anymore, you know."

"I thought you wanted to stay out of the supernatural as much as possible."

So there was a supernatural side to this. Again, Alex wondered if this poor child had been a victim of something terrible.

Well, if he had, Sam and Dean had obviously saved him.

She shrugged one shoulder. "Yeah, I did. But that was then. After what happened recently…" With crazy hunters coming after them for no good reason—if Alex hadn't come home that night when she did, she would have lost Jody, just like she'd lost her birth family. "I'd rather know what's going on."

Jody paused to give her a measured look. "Okay. Granted, _I_ don't even know for sure what's going on. Sam and Dean went up against Lucifer, and their friend Castiel was killed."

Alex wanted to ask if 'Lucifer' meant something other than the obvious, but decided there were still some things she was happier _not_ knowing about.

Wait…

"Castiel…as in the guy Claire complains uses too many emoticons?"

Jody nodded sagely. "Yeah. Except there was apparently some weird voodoo happening at the same time, and this baby kinda just…appeared. Sam thinks it might be their friend reborn somehow." She grimaced. "Which means we might actually be taking care of a baby angel."

Alex gaped at her, waiting for the 'gotcha' moment. But it didn't come, and she flicked a bewildered look at the child she was holding in her arms. "You don't mean that in the sickly sweet cooing way, do you?"

Jody smirked. "I wish."

Alex shifted her weight nervously, suddenly doubting whether she should be touching him. She immediately chastised herself for that; he wasn't radioactive. …right?

"Um, let's not mention this to Claire," Jody added.

Alex quirked a brow, about to ask why not when it suddenly struck her. Oh yeah, _that_ would be awkward. Alex wondered if it should have bothered her, but she'd never met the dorky guy in the trench coat, as Claire had described her pseudo-not-dad. So she really had no mental association of that image with the cute infant in her arms.

"You want me to keep it a secret?" Alex asked. Granted, Claire wasn't around anymore, and they had no idea when she would even be back, if ever. But Jody had always been a big touter of not keeping secrets, so Alex felt obligated to give her a bad time about it now.

Jody sighed. "No, just…if you happen to talk to her, don't mention that he might be an angel. Or that his name is Cas."

"What am I supposed to call him if she asks?" Not that Claire did call her or anything, so it probably wouldn't come up.

Jody shrugged in exasperation. "I don't know. 'Squirt' or something."

Alex rolled her eyes. "Alright, fine. Come on, Squirt, let's leave grumpy Mama Jody to her boxes."

"Hey!"

Alex's lips twitched as she took the baby downstairs and away from the racket. A glance at the supplies stacked at the base of the steps suggested they'd be entertaining this little house guest for a while.

Which seemed weird, if he was supposed to be the Winchesters' angel. Though, Alex couldn't exactly imagine those two taking care of an infant. Leave it to Jody and her soft heart to take him in instead.

Oh well. It wasn't like Alex hadn't had to make major adjustments before.

She lowered herself to sit on the floor, and laid Cas on the carpet in front of her. Hm, all those baby supplies, but none of it any cute toys or things to keep a baby's attention stimulated. Alex grabbed her keys for lack of anything better, and gave them a small jangle in the air. Cas cocked his head to the side, eyes wide and curious. Alex shook them again, and this time he let out a garbled laugh and clapped his chubby hands together.

Alex smiled and jingled the keys again, lowering them enough for him to try to reach up and grab them. His delighted squeals filled the living room, and Alex thought he looked pretty normal for an angel.

"Don't worry," she told him. "Jody will look after you until Sam and Dean come back. She's good like that."

And Alex supposed she wouldn't mind looking after him, too. Out of all the life changes she'd had to make in her years, this one didn't seem so bad.


	3. Chapter 3

Jody moaned as she rolled over in bed, Cas's cries issuing from across the hall. The clock read 6:30am on Thursday, Jody's first day this week to sleep in. She'd forgotten how babies had a way of _not_ adhering to conventional sleep patterns, which had made the past couple of weeks a trying adjustment period. To make matters worse, Cas had been colicky the past two days and keeping Jody up at night even more.

She didn't know what she was going to do about today with Alex's high school graduation. She hated the thought of bringing a wailing baby to the ceremony, but this was a big deal for Alex, and Jody needed to be there. Unfortunately, she also wasn't sure she could trust a babysitter with the kid.

Another high-pitched wail filled the house. Groaning, Jody started to drag herself out of bed. She'd…figure something out.

She'd barely stood up all the way when a brilliant flash of light erupted from the other room. Adrenaline shot through her system, and she was bolting across the hall and into the makeshift nursery. Half her instincts were to rush to check on the baby; the other half were screaming that she should have grabbed her gun.

But when she skidded to a stop, it wasn't because there was some intruder in the bedroom, but because where she'd laid down a fussy infant only a few hours before, there was now a toddler standing in the crib.

Jody sputtered in stupefaction. "What the…"

The little boy roved his gaze around the room, looking confused. Jody quickly flicked on the light, yet it didn't help her believe what she was seeing. She was suddenly reminded of that Irish or something mythology of changeling children being swapped with babies in their cribs. This was _not_ what she had signed up for. But this kid had the same dark hair and blue eyes…

He turned his gaze back to her almost expectantly, yet Jody couldn't bring herself to move. She really needed to ask more questions before blindly agreeing to help those Winchesters…

Cas's eyes pinched after a long moment of Jody not doing anything, and then he started to try climbing out of the crib. Jody finally jolted from her daze and rushed over to help before he fell. Her nerves prickled uneasily as she picked the thin boy up and set him on the floor. The onesie he'd gone to bed in was nothing but tattered remains in the bottom of the crib.

Okay, deep breaths, Jody coached herself. She could deal with this. He was an angel, right?

"Uh…Cas?"

The little boy looked up and tilted his head, then smiled shyly.

Jody tried to smile back, though it probably came out more of a grimace. Right, okay.

"Um, wait right here," she told him. "While I find you some clothes."

Turned out she wouldn't be going through all those diapers after all. She went to one of the boxes she'd brought down from the attic and ripped the lid open. Jody thought she had a little bit for every age from her own son's things; she'd never gotten around to bringing herself to get rid of them.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she found some clothes for a toddler, then went back to dress Cas in them. He didn't say a word or make a sound as she slipped the t-shirt over his head and helped maneuver his arms through the sleeves.

"Okay, that works," she said when he was fully dressed, mostly to maintain an outward facade of calm in the hopes it would influence her currently racing heart.

Cas smiled.

Jody straightened to her full height. Okay, next step. Glancing back at the crib, she realized that wasn't really gonna be of use anymore, either. At least the room already had a bed in it for when guests stayed over—meaning hunters passing through town and needing a place to crash. It was rather big for a small kid, but it would have to do. Cas didn't look at all sleepy, though.

"Okay, let's go call Sam and Dean," Jody said, and held out her hand. Cas readily took it, and she led him across the hall back to her room where she grabbed the phone off the cradle on the nightstand.

She dialed Sam first, figuring his head might be clearer when it came to this whole predicament with maybe-their-reborn-friend-Cas. But his phone went straight to voicemail. "Hey, Sam," Jody said after the beep ended. "Um, I need you to call me. I'm thinking maybe there were some things about baby angels you forgot to mention?"

Not that she thought they really had any idea about that; it sounded like the whole thing was not only a shock, but a brand new situation to them, too. She hung up after leaving the message, and then tried Dean's phone just for good measure. She got the same voicemail response, but disconnected without leaving a message. They were probably busy tracking down leads on their mother, or Baby—er, Adolescent Lucifer. Nothing to worry about…

Yeah, right.

Jody looked down at Cas helplessly. He just gazed back up at her. Finally she sighed, and put the phone back on its cradle. "You hungry?"

Cas's eyes lit up and he nodded vigorously.

"Okay, then." She took his hand again and led him downstairs to the kitchen. Guess they could give away the baby formula, too. Jody wondered if it'd be a difficult jump from liquid to solid foods…but who was she kidding, babies didn't just 'jump' from infant to toddler, either.

"Oatmeal sound good?" she asked, not really sure what she was doing.

Cas raised one shoulder in a shrug.

Right, because he hadn't exactly tried it before. Shaking her head, Jody grabbed a packet of instant oatmeal and mixed it with milk on the stove. Cas went to the small kitchen table and climbed into one of the chairs where he sat down to watch the process intently. And yeah, his spontaneous transformation was weird, and rather unnerving, but it wasn't as though this three or four-year-old angel was creepy or anything. Jody did wonder if he was going to turn into an adult soon like that nephilim supposedly had.

She really hoped Sam called her back before then.

When the oatmeal was ready, Jody scooped some into a bowl and set it and a spoon on the table in front of Cas. He picked up the utensil in a tiny fist and immediately started digging in. Sighing in resignation, Jody slopped some oatmeal into a bowl for herself and took a seat across from him. She couldn't help but shake her head at how a third of the breakfast was ending up on Cas's chin and clothes. Guess super power-ups didn't include instant muscle and motor dexterity. Jody got up to get a paper towel, which she tucked under Cas's collar as a makeshift bib. Then she set to eating her own breakfast, the two of them sitting there in companionable silence.

A few minutes later Alex shuffled in, bleary-eyed and still in her pjs. She pulled up short and froze. "Um, Jody…?"

"Yeah…" Jody drawled. "Remember when I said he might be an angel? I'm guessing 'growth spurts' for them has a whole different meaning. Did he wake you up?"

Alex slowly shook her head, eyes still fixed on the toddler. "No. I'm just…excited, I guess." She finally turned away to flip on the coffee maker without further ado.

Jody marveled at how crazy it was the two of them seemed to adapt to these kinds of situations so easily. Either they had the fortitude of saints…or were insane.

"It's a big day," Jody said with a proud smile.

Alex just shrugged, but Jody caught her lips twitching. Then her face fell slightly into a schooled expression. "I guess you'll be staying with the rugrat, huh?"

"We'll be at your graduation," Jody promised.

Alex arched a brow. "You sure that's a good idea?"

Jody looked at Cas again as he glanced back and forth between them, still not speaking, but seeming as though he were hanging on their every word. Or maybe just taking them in. He seemed at ease.

"I'm not missing it for the world," Jody said, then paused to survey how messy Cas was after eating his oatmeal. He needed a bath and change of clothes now. "I might have to run out for some more clothes for him real quick first. You've got an appointment at the salon to get your hair done this morning, right?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, I'll run to Walmart while you're there."

"Don't forget shoes," Alex pointed out.

Jody frowned, then glanced under the table at Cas's bare feet. Oh, yeah. She needed to make a list.

If only she knew how long one size would last.

* * *

Alex sat at the dining room table, trying to concentrate on the math problem in her book while the bop and beep of cartoons sounded from the television around the corner in the living room. She groaned and put her face in her hands. Whose idea was it to do summer school?

Oh yeah, hers. She'd wanted to get a few extra credits done before she started nursing school in the fall. And since math wasn't her best subject, Alex thought taking a condensed course of calculus in the summer would help her get through it easier.

She was wrong.

There was an exaggerated screech of tires and the iconic clunk of an anvil getting dropped on the ground.

"Cas, can you turn that down please," Alex called.

A second later, the volume decreased a few levels.

"Thank you!"

She was surprised at how normal life with the little rugrat was. Aside from that one freakish growth spurt, Cas was basically a normal kid, albeit kinda weird. He never spoke, but he seemed to understand language well enough when people talked to him. And his eyes were expressive enough to do most of the communicating he needed.

Other than that, he liked gummy bears and cartoons, playing in the hose outside, and drawing. The refrigerator was plastered with his colorful scribbles. All in all, it was like having a kid brother, though Jody had been telling people who asked that Cas belonged to her cousins, and she was taking care of him while they dealt with some family stuff.

Alex tried to return her attention to her homework, but was interrupted again by Jody coming into the room. She was holding the phone and tapping it absently in her palm.

"Still can't reach the Winchesters?" Alex guessed.

Jody let out a grumbling sigh. "No."

"I'm sure they're fine," she said, even though she'd been saying that for weeks and the comfort felt hollow at this point. "They're probably busy kicking some monster ass."

Jody huffed. "Them. Claire."

Alex pursed her mouth. "I could text her," she offered casually.

Jody gave her a wan smile. "No, that's okay. I'm sure she's fine, too. At least she sends postcards."

Alex quirked a rueful smile. Jody was partially suffering from empty-nest syndrome, not that she'd ever admit it. It was sweet, in an overbearing kind of way. But Alex didn't begrudge Jody for it; she was grateful to have someone who cared that much about her. And even though Jody currently had Cas to look after to fill some of that void, Alex had already decided that she wouldn't worry about living on campus in the dorms next year. Besides, it'd be smarter to save that money. Student loans were a bitch.

Cas came skipping into the room then, waving a piece of paper of a drawing he'd apparently just finished.

Jody set the phone down so she could accept it. "And what do we have here?" she said.

"Alex!"

Both of them froze and gaped incredulously at him. Cas bounced on the balls of his feet and beamed expectantly.

Jody quickly shook herself and looked at the drawing. "Oh yeah, I see. That's Alex's hair. And that's our house, right?"

Cas nodded enthusiastically. Alex peered over Jody's arm to see the artwork for herself. There was a square house with a triangle roof, and flowers, and a stick figure with black lines falling down the side of the circular head.

"It's beautiful, Cas," Jody said. "Want me to put it on the fridge?"

Cas stepped forward to take it out of her hand, then slid it across the table toward Alex.

"For me? Thank you," she said.

He ran around the side of the table then and started tugging at her hand. "Will you come draw with me?"

Alex cast a reluctant look at her homework, but then decided to dismiss it. Cas was _talking_ , which was a huge milestone for him. And his first word had been her name.

Yeah, she could take a break from studying for a bit.

* * *

"Why can't we eat it now?"

"Because they have to bake," Jody replied.

"Why?"

She shook her head in amusement. One week the kid never said a word, the next he didn't stop talking. All that time he'd been silent, he'd apparently been picking up language quite fast for his age. Or, well, how did they really measure 'age' with him, anyway? _Technically_ , he was only a couple of months old. Maybe past lives counted in some way, though they had yet to determine if that was going to come into play at some point.

Jody scooped him up and carried him in a half-airplane dive to the kitchen table where Alex was sitting, snacking on pretzels.

"Because that's how they get warm and gooey," she said, plopping Cas down in a chair and tickling his stomach until he laughed. "Otherwise it just tastes like cold goop."

Cas giggled until she let up. "Why doesn't chocolate taste like mud?"

Alex rolled her eyes. "Because they're not the same."

"They look the same. I made mud cookies yesterday."

Yes, and he'd tracked it in all over the house, which Jody had to get on her hands and knees to clean. She paused as his previous question sunk in; she hadn't realized he'd eaten it, too.

"Chocolate chip cookies taste way better than mud," she said, bending over to look in the oven and check on them.

Cas shrugged, and wriggled around in his chair so he was sitting on his knees and hugging the back. "Jody, are you my mom?"

She froze, and slowly straightened. "Uh, well…" Shit, she didn't know how she was supposed to respond to that. She threw a help-me look at Alex, who just raised her eyebrows blankly.

Cas furrowed his brow when he didn't get an immediate answer. "In my picture books, kids bake cookies with their mom."

"Well, sometimes kids can bake cookies with grandma, or dad. Or a guardian."

Cas squinted at her in confusion.

Alex sighed. "What Jody is trying to say is that she's our adoptive mom, which means we're not blood related, but we're still family and love each other." She lifted her gaze with a fond smile that touched Jody. They'd come a long way since Jody had first taken Alex in as just a ward.

Cas canted his head thoughtfully. "I don't think I ever had a mom before," he said. His lips quirked upward. "But I like it."

Jody's smile faltered, and she hesitated a beat before coming over and kneeling down to Cas's eye level. He twisted around so he was sitting normal in the chair.

"Do you…remember things from…before you came to live here?" she asked carefully.

Cas's nose scrunched up. "Mhm, like what?"

"Anything."

He thought about it for a moment, then shook his head. "What was before here?"

"Nothing," Jody said hurriedly, and patted his knee. She wasn't even sure why she'd asked. "Go wash your hands before the cookies come out."

"Okay." He bounded from the chair and out of the kitchen.

* * *

Two nights later, Jody woke to Cas screaming from his bedroom, and she rushed in to find him thrashing in the throes of a nightmare. All it took was one touch to wake him, and then he fell sobbing into her arms.

Alex appeared in the doorway, the hall light silhouetting her frame. Her gaze wavered worriedly as Jody cradled Cas against her and whispered soothing nothings into his ear.

"Should I go warm up some milk?" Alex offered.

Jody nodded. "Thanks." She stroked her fingers through Cas's hair as he hiccuped into her shirt. "It's okay, sweetie. You're safe. It was just a bad dream."

But when she tried to ask him what it was about, he refused to answer. Either because he didn't know how to talk about it, or the horrible memory slipped away like phantoms with the light turning on.

But Jody did start to wonder whether it _was_ memories that were beginning to surface, whether she had helped trigger it by asking him if he remembered anything.

She gave herself a sharp shake. It had been an innocent question, and probably not her fault. But she decided not to bring it up again.

After she had rocked Cas back to sleep, though, she called Sam, and then Dean. Both times she hung up in frustration. Why couldn't they answer their damn phones?

The next night was fine, though, so maybe it had just been a fluke. Maybe there would be no more chocolate chip cookies after dinner and so close to bedtime.

Things went back to normal. Alex took care of Cas while Jody was at work, and she got her shifts covered while Alex was at school. If this was still their living situation in the fall when Alex started college full time, Jody would have to figure something out. Daycare, or kindergarten maybe. Or maybe she'd have to make a trip out to Lebanon and box those boys' ears and ask what the hell they were doing.

But in the meantime, Jody was also enjoying this little family unit they had going. She marveled at the turns her life had taken over the years, at the family she kept finding and adding to long after she'd thought it impossible to rebuild.


	4. Chapter 4

Alex fumbled to get her keys in the lock with her arms full of grocery bags. She'd bought enough to practically stock her own pharmacy, everything from Children's Tylenol to Vicks Vapor Rub, and a couple of packs of Pedialyte for good measure.

She finally got the door unlocked, and pushed her shoulder against it to shove her way inside. She was greeted with the sounds of a Disney movie playing on the television in the living room, Aladdin, it looked like. Cas was laying on the couch, bundled in blankets and watching the screen with bleary eyes. There was a red flush that had been stubbornly clinging to his cheeks for the past twenty-four hours.

Jody came hurrying in from the kitchen with a cup and a straw, dressed in her work uniform. "Thanks for doing that, Alex," she said, sounding harried. "I'm already running late."

"No problem." Alex set the shopping bags on the coffee table and sat on the edge of the couch by Cas's legs. "Hey, champ, how you feeling?"

"My tummy hurts."

"Mm, that's no fun. Let's try one of the medicines I brought you from the store, see if we can make it better." She leaned forward to open one of the bags, and pulled out some syrupy thing that was advertised as cherry flavored, but she knew tasted disgusting. Alex reached for the cup of orange juice Jody had set on the coffee table and poured the dose of medicine into that to mask the bitter tang.

"Here we go," she said, lifting the cup so all Cas had to do was open his mouth to take the straw. His face scrunched up at the first sip. "Will you drink it all?" Alex prompted. "For me?"

Cas gave her a sour look, but nevertheless went back to sipping down the juice.

"You should think about going into pediatrics," Jody commented.

A smile tugged at Alex's lips. She wouldn't dismiss the idea…

"You're late, remember?" she said, giving Jody a shooing motion.

Jody hesitated. "Are you sure you'll be okay?"

Alex rolled her eyes. "I got this. Go."

"Alright." Jody stepped forward and leaned down to plant a kiss on Cas's forehead. "I'll be back tonight. Call if there's an emergency."

"Uh-huh." Alex waved her off again, turning her full attention back to Cas and waiting patiently for him to finish the juice. He gave her a disgruntled look the entire time, but finally drank it all. "Thank you," she said, setting the cup aside.

"I don't feel better," he pouted.

Alex stroked some of his hair back from his forehead. "We have to give it time to work first. Let's watch the movie. I bet by the time it's done you'll be feeling better, and then I'll heat up some chicken soup for dinner. Sound good?"

He let out a muffled moan of discomfort, but turned his gaze back to the TV. Alex settled back against the cushion next to him, wishing there was more she could do to help him feel better. Being sick sucked, but even more so when you were a kid, and didn't fully understand that the misery was only temporary. She wondered if she could handle pediatric nursing. Taking care of Cas had brought out a love for children Alex had never really known she'd had before, yet at the same time, it was difficult to watch kids suffer.

But, she was doing everything she could to take care of Cas and nurse him back to health, and children needed that kind of tender care, even from nurses. Maybe she'd give it more serious consideration when she actually started nursing school, talk to some teachers and her guidance counselor.

The movie ended, but Cas didn't appear to be feeling better at all. Alex made him soup, which he barely touched, and put in another movie. By the time they'd finished watching Treasure Planet, his fever had risen and he'd curled up in a ball on the couch, whimpering as he wrapped his arms around his stomach. Alex didn't want to be one of those nursing students who jumped to worst case diagnoses, but she was seriously starting to worry about appendicitis or something. At the very least, Cas probably needed to see a doctor.

"Alex, it hurts," he moaned.

"I know. I'm gonna call Jody," she said.

Alex got up to grab the house phone and make the call, yet before she could even dial, a strange light started to suffuse through the room. She turned around and went rigid when she realized that it was coming _from_ Cas. His cries intensified, and with it the blazing glow, until the nova had completely swallowed him.

Alex's heart stopped in that moment, paralyzed by terror because what the hell was happening? Then the light exploded with a concussive force that pushed her against the wall. Not hard enough to hurt or knock her down, fortunately, but she blinked furiously against the white spots speckling her vision, and when it finally cleared and the light faded, Alex gaped at Cas.

He was sitting up on the couch, his pajamas stretched and ripped at the seams along the shoulders and calves. He looked…holy shit, he looked five, maybe six years old.

Cas blinked dazedly as he slowly turned his head toward her, then looked down at his clothes. He poked a finger through one of the tears and wiggled it. Glancing her way again, he winced sheepishly. "Will Jody be mad?"

Alex sputtered soundlessly. Oh crap, this was…this was…shit, she had no freakin' idea what this was. She shakily hit the call button on the phone still in her hand and fumbled to punch in Jody's number.

"Alex, is everything okay?" Jody answered after the second ring.

"Um, not really. You need to come home."

"What's wrong?"

Alex roved her gaze over Cas again and swallowed hard. "Growth spurt," she choked out.

There was a half beat before Jody responded, "I'm on my way."

The line clicked, and Alex slowly let her arm drop to her side. Okay, so Cas was a few inches bigger now, but other than that, he seemed the same. But…jeez, what was she supposed to do with this?

Cas wrapped his arms around himself as he looked at her. "Alex, are you mad?"

She startled. "No. No, I'm not mad." She forced herself to straighten and cross the room back to the couch.

Cas practically cowered away from her. "You look mad."

Alex gave herself a small shake and adopted a calm exterior. "I'm not mad. I was just…scared for a second there." She frowned as she took in his normal complexion. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine," he said. "I feel all better."

Okay, that was…odd. She reached out to lay the back of her hand against his forehead, but sure enough, the fever was gone.

Cas suddenly let out a big yawn and his eyelids started drooping. He turned to lay back down on the couch and snuggle up with the blankets. "Please don't tell Jody I ruined the pjs," he mumbled into the pillow. "I don't want her to be mad."

Alex just shook her head, still a bit too stunned to fully process all this. Cas was out like a light within moments, and the front door banged open fifteen minutes after that. Jody took one look at Cas and her brows shot up to her hairline.

"What happened?" she breathed.

Alex shrugged. "His fever got worse and he was in a lot of pain, and then he started to glow." She nipped at her bottom lip. "And he doesn't seem to be sick anymore, so maybe he didn't really have a bug. Maybe it was a precursor to…that."

Jody frowned in thought. "When it happened the first time…he'd been colicky. I didn't even think about it afterward." She exhaled loudly. "But you think the fever was a sign of the…growth spurt?"

Alex scoffed. "I have no idea. Maybe we should try calling Sam and Dean again."

Jody's mouth tightened. "I've left dozens of messages."

Alex crossed her arms. "Well, Cas was in severe pain right before it happened. I was almost ready to take him to the hospital. How are we supposed to know if that's normal or not? What if it's worse next time?"

"I don't know," Jody said helplessly. She went over and gingerly stroked back Cas's hair, but he didn't wake. "But I doubt the Winchesters would know, either," she went on, then heaved a deep breath. "So we'll have to look into it ourselves."

* * *

Jody puffed her cheeks in and out idly as she sat in the small waiting room and eyed the framed pictures of Tarot card artwork that decorated the walls. There were scented candles set out on nearly every surface area, and a stereotypical beaded curtain that divided the lobby from the back 'office.'

Cas sat in the chair beside her, swinging his legs back and forth in growing boredom. "What are we doing here?"

"Uh…we're here to see a kind of doctor."

"But I feel all better now."

Jody smiled and reached up to muss his hair. "I know, but I just want to make sure."

Cas let out an exaggerated sigh, but didn't ask more questions. Jody studied him carefully out of the corner of her eye. He'd been completely recovered from the flu virus—if that's what it had been—since his little growth spurt, and had tried to pretty much resume life as normal. He still played outside, still read books from the library with Alex, though he'd taken to doing the reading himself. He was still a quick study. Maybe it came with the angelic boosts.

But Alex's theory had been niggling at the back of Jody's mind ever since the incident, and she was worried about what this trend might mean for Cas in the future. He was also having nightmares again. Not every night, thank goodness, but when they hit, they were brutal, and always left him crying out. Sometimes for Jody if he was already fully awake, sometimes wordlessly if he was still trapped in them. He still couldn't—or wouldn't—say what they were about, and Jody suspected he truly couldn't remember, because no dark images cropped up in his artwork like child psychologists were trained to look for.

And so with no other recourse, Jody had asked Garth to put her in touch with a legitimate psychic, the only kind of person she could think of who might be able to help them figure it out, given the Winchesters' continued radio silence. As if that wasn't enough to worry about on its own. Jody wondered if it would cost extra for this psychic to do a location spell or something.

The beaded curtain jangled, and a woman with blonde hair tapered down prominent cheek bones stepped out. Jody had been half expecting a full-on gypsy costume, but this woman looked more like a hippie, with ripped jeans and a flowy blouse. One side of her hair was braided back like Claire used to wear, but she didn't have the mascara to give the style that punk look.

"Hi there, I'm Roma," she greeted. "Jody Mills?"

Jody stood up. "Yeah. I got your name from a friend of mine, Garth."

Roma's eyes widened a fraction, intrigued. She glanced down. "And who is this little man?"

Cas ducked behind Jody's leg shyly.

"This is Cas," she said.

As Roma's gaze lingered on him for a moment longer, something in her expression shifted to unreadable. "Well then, come on back," she said, turning to lead the way.

Jody tried not to let her anxiety show, as she didn't want Cas to pick up on it and feel nervous himself. They were here to hopefully find answers, and that was a good thing.

Roma led them into a back room with a small, circular table covered in a black table cloth. At the moment, its surface was bare, but there were shelves along one wall containing candles, stones, Tarot cards, and even a crystal ball.

There were only two chairs at the table, so Jody picked Cas up and settled him in her lap when she sat down in one of them. Roma took a seat across from her, eyes repeatedly flicking to Cas curiously.

"So, what can I help you with?"

Jody almost asked whether she was supposed to already know that, but bit back the snark. "Um, well, my- Cas here, was…born, in the middle of a strong concentration of magic." That was what she'd gathered from Sam's story, though she didn't really want to get into the details of dead angels and nephilim and Lucifer. "He's been going through some…rapid growth spurts, but also getting sick from them. Maybe."

"Maybe?"

"I'm not sure. I was hoping you would be able to tell. With a reading or something? Garth said you were the real deal."

Roma hummed under her breath, eyes once again narrowing on Cas. He fidgeted in Jody's lap.

"There's definitely something…different about him." She stretched her hands out across the table, palms up. "Let me do a closer reading."

Cas tried to nestle further against Jody, but she rubbed his arms soothingly. "It's okay, sweetie. I'm right here."

"It won't hurt," Roma said, hands open and waiting.

Cas bit his lip, but finally reached out to settle his small hands in hers. She folded her fingers around his and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. A moment later her brow pinched, then tightened. Roma flinched, her hands spasming, and Cas let out a whimper. Jody didn't know whether to step in or not, but then Roma jerked away with a heaving gasp. Jody hugged Cas close against her as he clung to her arms.

"Are you all right?" Jody asked, eyeing Roma in concern as the woman continued to breathe heavily, eyes wide and pupils dilated.

"I've…never seen anything like it," she gasped between bouts of sucking in air.

Jody tensed. "Seen what?"

Roma lifted her head, confusion and a trace of fear sweeping across her face. She looked at Cas again. "His soul is made up of different entanglements of energy, different signatures."

"What does that mean?"

"If I had to guess, I'd say that whatever concentration of magic was being conjured when he was born, some of it got woven into his soul. Is he displaying any magical talent?"

"No, nothing like that."

"Hm."

Jody frowned. "Well, is it dangerous?"

Roma shook her head. "I don't know. I wasn't able to go very deep. Reading him is like touching an active tesla coil."

Jody's gut clenched. She didn't like the sound of that. And if it was painful, borderline dangerous, for a psychic to look at, what did that mean for Cas?

"Can you tell me anything?" she asked desperately.

Roma gave her a regretful grimace. "I'm sorry. This is completely unprecedented. I would say all you can do is wait and see what happens."

Jody gritted her teeth. That was not the answer she'd been wanting. But then, maybe she should have expected it. As far as she was aware of, psychics didn't deal with angels. But if this was purely an angelic thing, then how was Jody supposed to handle it? She didn't even know any angels she could ask for help from.

"Well, thanks anyway."

"I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help."

Jody paused. "Actually, there is one more thing. I haven't been able to get a hold of some people. You can do locator spells, right?"

Roma worked her jaw, maybe debating about demanding more payment first, but then she canted her head in confirmation. "You have something that belongs to one of them?"

Jody shifted Cas to her other knee so she could reach into one of her pockets and pull out a key for the bunker Sam and Dean had given her after the British Men of Letters thing. It was the closest thing she had to a personal object, and that bunker was their home; didn't get much more personal than that. So she hoped.

Roma took the key and closed her fist around it, dropping her chin to her chest as she shut her eyes and hummed something under her breath. Jody waited impatiently as this time the woman held the trance much longer.

After seven minutes, Roma lifted her head and opened her eyes. "I'm sorry," she said. "I can't find them."

Jody felt a flicker of irritation. Maybe this woman was a crock, and yet Garth had sworn by her.

"Is the key not enough?"

"No, there's a strong connection in it," Roma said. "It's just…there's no one on the other side."

Jody's heart dropped into her stomach. "Are you saying they're dead?"

Roma snorted. "No. I can reach the dead. This…I can't explain." She grimaced as she threw a regretful look at Cas.

Jody's shoulders sagged. Well, shit.

"Okay. Uh, thanks for your time," she said morosely, and nudged Cas out of her lap so she could stand.

Roma handed the key back. "Good luck with everything."

Jody's jaw tightened. Yeah, she'd need it. She took Cas's hand and led him outside to the truck where she buckled him in the booster seat in the back before heading home. That had practically been a colossal waste, and was one great big disappointment.

"Jody," Cas spoke up after a few minutes on the road. "Is there something wrong with me?"

She twisted around to throw a look over her shoulder. "No, honey. You were just really sick before and I was worried. I'm sorry I dragged you to that place."

Cas worried at his bottom lip. "But that lady said I was different, that I'm not normal." He fell quiet for a moment. "I'm not like you and Alex, am I?"

Jody shook her head firmly. "You're special, Cas. There's nothing wrong with that. And Alex and I love you just the way you are."

She glanced in the rearview mirror and saw him gazing despondently out the window.

"Hey, what do you want for dinner?" she prompted.

Cas puckered his mouth before finally turning to face forward again. "Chocolate chip cookies?"

Jody shot him a wry look. "That can be dessert. How about macaroni and cheese?"

"Mm, okay," he said, some of that melancholy seeping away.

"Okay." Jody turned her eyes back to the road, wringing her hands over the steering wheel. If only she could divert her own tempestuous thoughts as easily…


	5. Chapter 5

Dean pushed the door to the bunker open and shuffled inside, never more relieved to be friggin'  _home_. After traipsing through four crazy-ass alternate realities, Dean just wanted his own bed and headphones. It'd been stupid to open up a portal when they had no idea what they were doing or where they'd end up. But they'd been desperate. And they'd ended up stuck in one of those alternate worlds— _not_  the one Mom and Lucifer had been sent to—until Sam had reworked the sigils to transport them out of there.

Unfortunately, they'd ended up hopping to yet another reality, and not their own. From there things had just gone to hell, with them trying to navigate stupid world after stupid world in an effort to either find the damn apocalyptic place Mom was, or at least their own reality again.

_Finally_ , they'd made it back, though. Sam was actually getting better and better at the spell casting, and now that they had the precise sigil work for getting back to  _their_  world, they could try opening up a portal to another one again.

Though, maybe tomorrow. Dean was beat. Physically, emotionally. He seriously needed to decompress.

Sam was already rambling about the next adjustments he planned to make on the sigils, but Dean was too tired to understand that crap, and he left his little brother puttering around the library as he went into the kitchen to grab a beer.

His phone started chiming like crazy before he'd even popped the cap off, and he pulled it out of his pocket to look at the screen. What the…shit, there were dozens of missed calls and text messages, all from Jody with date stamps covering the past several weeks.

Dean's chest constricted. He'd done a good job not thinking of Cas while they'd been scrambling for their lives and a way home. At least, not thinking of this baby that maybe or maybe wasn't his dead best friend freakishly resurrected. In the dead of night sometimes, though, Dean woke gasping from dreams of Cas's eyes blowing wide as the angel blade punched through his chest. It was like after the Leviathan all over again. Dean would have drowned himself in liquor if it weren't for the fact that they were working so desperately to find Mom.

His thumb hovered over the power button. He didn't really want to deal with anything else right now, but he and Sam  _had_  dumped a baby in Jody's lap without really telling her for how long. And she was probably worried about them, considering.

Biting back a sigh, Dean set the beer bottle back in the fridge and hit her number on the missed calls list to call back. It rang once before the line clicked.

" _Dean_?" Jody gasped.

"Yeah, it's me."

"Oh, thank god." Relief instantly switched to a verbal thrashing. "Where the hell have you been? You didn't return my calls, and a psychic couldn't even find you. You'd better have a good explanation for that."

Dean blinked in bewilderment. "You called a psychic to look for us?"

Jody practically growled through the speaker. "You weren't answering the damn phone," she ground out, enunciating each word with a punch of anger.

"Well, I do have a good explanation for that," he said. "Sam and I have been in alternate realities looking for Mom. No cell service," he added with an attempt at levity.

Jody hesitated for a beat. "Oh. Okay. Any luck?"

Dean sighed, and reached a hand up to rub his face wearily. "No." He sank into one of the chairs at the kitchen table. "So what's up?"

"Did you listen to my messages?"

Dean frowned. "No. I just got all the alerts a minute ago. Guess it took time for the buffer to unload after we got back. Is everything okay?"

"That depends on your definition of 'okay.'"

Dean's guard instantly went up. "Is it Ca- is it the baby? Is he okay?"

"Well, let me ask you this: is it normal for baby angels to grow six years in a two-month period?"

Dean wasn't sure he'd heard right. " _What_?"

Jody snorted. "Yeah. Little Cas isn't a baby anymore. He's had two growth spurts, for lack of a better word, where he instantly grew a couple years each time."

"So, you're saying he's now…" Dean suddenly couldn't do math.

"Around five or six, I'd hazard to guess," Jody replied. "In body, anyway. He's at a fifth-grade reading level."

Dean continued to sit there in dismay. Could it actually be that Cas was coming back? In a very weird, drawn-out detour sort of way?

"Sam and I are leaving now," he said, finally finding his legs again.

"We're okay, just so you know," Jody said. "You don't have to rush."

"We'll be there in a few hours," he reiterated. Screw exhaustion, he needed to…needed to see for himself.

He hung up with Jody and stormed back to the library. "Sam! We gotta go."

His brother looked up from a large tome, brow quirking in confusion. "What? Why?"

"I talked to Jody. Have you checked your phone? She left us a gazillion messages."

Sam blanched. "What happened? Is something wrong?"

"I don't know if it's  _wrong_ ," Dean said, snatching up his keys and heading for the stairs. "But she said Cas is now like six years old."

And okay, Dean was going to think that this was Cas after all. Because normal human babies didn't have 'growth spurts' like that. But maybe angels did.

"So we were right," Sam said excitedly, not bothering to remember that Dean had been skeptical of that theory and holding out this entire time. "It is Cas, and he must be growing up fast because of his grace. Like what happened with Jack."

Dean snorted. Jack's growth rate was a tad  _faster_. But yeah, how else to explain it?

"Let's go find out," he said, the adrenaline of desperate hope and crushing fear spurring the last dregs of his energy to make the drive.

* * *

They arrived late afternoon, and Dean probably shouldn't have been able to see straight, but his nerves were completely wired with trepidation and anxiety. He'd just parked when Jody opened the front door of the house and stepped outside, closing it behind her. She gave them both a very severe look of disapproval as they approached, but then dropped the matronly face and stepped forward to pull Dean into a fierce hug first, then Sam.

"You're giving me gray hair," she scowled. "You see this?" Jody pointed to her, uh, yeah, distinctly lighter hair.

Dean tried to smile. "Sorry 'bout that."

There was a beat of silence before Sam asked, "Is he inside?"

Jody's expression became carefully schooled. "Yeah. Listen, I don't know what you're expecting, but despite the obvious non-human stuff, he's still just a kid."

Dean frowned. What was that supposed to mean?

Jody simply shook her head and turned to open the door. Dean and Sam were close on her heels as she made her way through the living room and around the corner to where voices were coming from. Dean came to an abrupt stop at the sight of a little boy sitting at the dining room table with Alex, playing with colored clay or something. Sam bumped against his shoulder as he also came to a stunned halt.

Dean almost couldn't breathe. The dark hair, and blue eyes…he could imagine this was a young Jimmy Novak. But that was impossible because they'd buried that body…

"Cas?" he breathed, voice cracking.

The little boy looked up from his arts and crafts. Dean was suddenly hoping for a flash of recognition, a smile, a 'hello, Dean.' But he got none of that. Cas threw a questioning look at Alex, then at Jody.

Jody stepped forward. "Cas, this is Sam and Dean."

"Hi," he said shyly.

"Hey," Sam said breathlessly.

Dean waited for Cas to say something more, to prove that it really was him. But after a moment of silence, he went back to his clay. Alex and Jody exchanged an uncomfortable look, and then Jody was quietly gesturing for the Winchesters to head back to the living room.

"I don't understand," Sam said in a low voice. "Doesn't he remember who he is? Who we are?"

Jody sighed. "I'm sorry, I thought maybe when he saw you, something might click. Because otherwise, no, he doesn't remember anything about before. He seemed to know his name right away, but I don't know if that's instinctual or just because that's what me and Alex were calling him while he was still in diapers. And he gets nightmares sometimes, but doesn't remember them when he wakes up. I don't know if they're just bad dreams, or something else." She shook her head. "He does know he's different, but not that he's an angel. Or used to be, however that works."

"He has to still be an angel," Sam argued. "If his grace is causing him to grow so fast."

Jody shrugged. "I took him to a psychic, and she didn't seem to think he was an angel. Maybe she wouldn't recognize one."

Sam's brows shot upward. "You took him to a psychic?"

She crossed her arms. "You two weren't exactly reachable. What was I supposed to do?"

Sam grimaced at that. "You're right, sorry."

"What'd the psychic say?" Dean asked gruffly.

"That his soul is made up of different weird energy," she replied. "I'm guessing angel and whatever was out at the lake house to cause all this."

Sam's forehead creased. "That's not much of an explanation."

"I don't know what to tell you," Jody said helplessly. "You two are supposed to be the experts."

A muscle in Sam's jaw ticked, because that was just it—neither of them knew what the hell was happening, either. But it was clear that whatever hope Dean had dared allow himself to feel had just been crushed. Because Cas didn't know who they were…

"I need some air," he blurted, and spun on his heel to stride out the front door.

He stumbled into the front yard, sucking in ragged gasps of oxygen as he tried to keep himself from hyperventilating. They shouldn't have rushed over here like this, should have taken the time to get some rest and decent sleep, because Dean was at the end of his rope and he couldn't deal with this. Couldn't deal with Cas being gone forever slapping him in the face all over again.

He didn't hear the door open behind him, or maybe he'd forgotten to close it on his way out, he wasn't sure, but a minute later Jody was at his side and pressing her thumb into the hollow between his shoulders as he stood doubled over in her yard, gasping for breath.

"I'm sorry, I just can't," he choked out.

She didn't respond right away, just remained a solid fixture of sympathetic support at his side.

"I can't imagine what this is like for you," she finally said.

Dean shook his head, fighting back tears of shattered memories and back-breaking exhaustion. "He looks like him…I mean, not exactly, of course, because he's only what, five, six?" He let out a garbled laugh. "This is too weird."

"Can't argue with that. But listen, even though he doesn't remember anything, it's still Castiel, right?"

"Is it? It may be his grace, but it's not  _him_." Dean straightened and rubbed his hands over his face. "God, listen to me. I should be happy that he's alive. But it's like he's not, because he's still gone, and I just can't…"

"It's okay, Dean. I don't expect this to be easy for either of you."

Dean covered his eyes with his hand, hating how easily the tears came. He was going to look like a blubbering mess if he let himself break down. It took every last ounce of strength he had, but he managed to swallow back the sobs and push the roiling emotions down, even if just a degree.

"How- how is he?" Dean asked weakly.

Jody gave him a small smile. "Aside from the supernatural growth spurts, he's a regular, happy go-lucky kid."

Dean nodded soberly. Right. Cas, but not Cas.

"Thanks for taking him in. I know this isn't what you signed up for at all, and we never should have dumped this burden on you—"

"It's not a burden," Jody interrupted. "And Cas is a sweet kid." She paused for a moment before adding gently, "And I think you should come inside and get to know him."

Dean automatically tensed. He didn't know if he could do that, didn't know if he could look at that boy and see glimpses of his best friend but not be able to reach him.

Yet they had come all this way, and on the small chance that Cas was in there somewhere, even if buried deep down, then Dean had to try to find him.

* * *

Sam quietly moved to the corner of the living room after Jody had gone after Dean, and peeked into the dining room. He watched Cas and Alex sitting at the table making little clay sculptures, both of them smiling and laughing. It made Sam's chest hurt because he didn't know whether to be happy or sad. Cas was here and alive, but more than that, he was  _happy_. Innocent and happy, and free of the burdens he'd carried as an angel.

So, in some ways, Sam wanted to be relieved at that, wanted to marvel in the miracle of Cas's genuine smile and pure childlike laugh.

Yet at the same time, Cas didn't remember him and Dean, and that hurt like an ice pick through the heart.

Jody and Dean eventually came back inside. Dean's eyes were red, and he didn't say anything.

Jody clapped her hands together. "How about I make chicken for dinner?" she said to the room at large.

"And mashed potatoes?" Cas spoke up with enthusiasm.

"Of course," Jody replied. She raised a questioning brow toward the brothers.

"Yeah, that'd be great," Sam said half-heartedly.

She gave him a sympathetic look. "And I promise no sex talk this time."

Sam let out a weak huff of amusement, which had probably been her goal.

"What's that?" Cas's small voice piped up.

"I'll tell you when you're older," Jody automatically replied. "Now you and Alex start cleaning up. We'll eat out here with company."

Sam found himself suddenly feeling out of place. He and Dean had always made themselves at home at Jody's before, but Sam couldn't bring himself to go turn on the TV, or go check the fridge for a bottle of beer. All he could do was stand there and watch every move that Cas made as the little kid carefully carried his sculptures into the living room to set on a side table. Then he bounded back to the table and climbed onto the chair to help Alex stuff the extra clumps into their respective sandwich bags based on color.

Jody finally nudged him, jolting Sam out of his fixation. "You boys can help set the table," she said meaningfully, and Sam realized his brother had also been standing around awkwardly. "Cas, go wash up for dinner, please," she called.

"How come no one else has to wash up for dinner?" the kid responded.

"Because no one else was playing with clay all afternoon."

"Alex was."

Sam's brows rose sharply at how… _normal_ , Cas sounded. Sam now understood what Jody meant when she'd said he was just a kid.

"I'm going to wash my hands, too," Alex said. "Come on." She shooed him out of the dining room and toward the bathroom.

Sam let out a small chuckle under his breath. "He, uh, seems like quite the handful."

Jody smirked and shot him a wry look.

He grimaced. "I meant aside from the other stuff."

"No more a handful than an angsty teenager who did pot under the bleachers for a year."

Sam followed her back into the kitchen and went to start getting plates down from the cupboard. "Alex seems pretty good with him," he said thoughtfully. That had been equally surprising to see.

A smile tugged at the corners of Jody's mouth. "Alex and Cas have really taken to each other. I gotta admit, I wasn't expecting it, but I don't think Alex ever got a chance to be around young kids. Turns out she's a natural. Personally, I think she should go into pediatric nursing."

Huh. Wonders never ceased. Alex had come leaps and bounds from that traumatized slave of vampires to the strong, confident, and compassionate young woman she was now.

"That'd be cool," Sam said.

Dean wordlessly moved around them to get the silverware from the drawer, and then headed back out to the dining room. Sam's heart fell. He knew this was hard on his brother; it was hard for both of them. But it didn't have to be all bad. They just needed to…learn to adapt.

When they all finally sat down around the table to eat, Sam was struck with how similar the situation was to the last time they'd had dinner at Jody's. Though, that time the awkward silence had been over Claire hunting monsters that weren't really there.

Jody was shooting them pointed looks this time, too. "Cas, why don't you tell Sam and Dean about our little project in the backyard," she spoke up.

Cas flicked a hesitant glance at the Winchesters. "We're growing a garden," he said proudly. "With tomatoes and peppers and petunies."

"Petunias," Jody corrected.

"Petunias," Cas repeated carefully. "And a butterfly bush." He giggled. "It should be called a bee bush, because it's supposed to attract bees, not butterflies. I like bees."

Sam chuffed out a small laugh, but the moment was broken by Dean's fork clanking on his plate as he folded his hands in his lap, and the awkward silence descended again.

Sam dropped his gaze to his food. He was still torn himself with the fact that things weren't turning out the way he'd thought—the way he'd hoped—they might. But just because things were hard right now, didn't mean there wasn't still hope. Cas was growing so fast, and maybe as he got 'older,' his memories  _would_  come back. And then maybe he'd be himself again.

Maybe they just had to wait.


	6. Chapter 6

Jody figured dinner could have gone worse, though it also could have gone a  _little_  better. The awkward tension had been reminiscent of that unmitigated disaster a year ago with Claire spouting monster tales and Jody trying to give her and Alex the 'sex talk.' She almost yearned for the simplicity and normality of that conversation as opposed to this.

Because the predominant silence and stilted exchanges had been painfully obvious, even to little Cas, who'd grown less talkative than usual as a result. Jody knew she had to cut Sam and Dean some slack; they both looked as though they hadn't slept in days. Neither had shaved in that time, either, and Jody was guessing they could have afforded to eat more at dinner, but mostly they had picked at their food. Dean had been quick to get up and volunteer to do the dishes, too, despite not having finished his plate.

Cas slid out of his chair and reached for his dish to take into the kitchen as well.

"Don't worry about it tonight, sweetie," Jody said. "I'll clean up. Why don't you go get ready for bed."

Cas didn't argue, and slipped quietly from the dining room.

Sam looked lost for a moment before he got up and stacked the rest of the plates to clear the table himself. He and Dean seemed almost on auto-pilot at this point.

Jody and Alex cleared the rest of the drink glasses and deposited them in the kitchen near the sink, and then Alex gave Jody a regretful look before beating her own hasty retreat. Jody didn't blame her.

"So I got the couch downstairs and one of you can take Claire's room," she said.

Dean looked up in surprise from rinsing the dishes. "Oh. You don't have to…we don't want to be in the way."

"You've never been in the way before," she replied. "And I'll take care of the kitchen. You both look absolutely beat."

Neither tried to deny it, which spoke volumes.

"I'll take the couch," Dean finally said. "Sasquatch here won't fit."

"I don't mind," Sam said quietly.

Dean just shrugged him off, and went back to washing the plates.

"Seriously, Dean, put it down," Jody said in fond exasperation. "I'll grab some blankets from the closet and you can go straight to bed."

Sam frowned. "What about…?"

"We'll talk tomorrow, after you've both had some rest and time to let things sink in."

Sam's shoulders sagged as the last of his energy seemed to leech away. "Yeah, probably a good idea."

"Of course it is. I know what I'm talking about."

That earned her a ghost of a smile, which was the best she could hope for at the moment. She told them once again to get out of the kitchen and leave the dishes, and then went to the linen closet to grab a pile of blankets and pillows for Dean to use downstairs. After setting them on the couch, she turned to find Dean giving her a wan attempt at a grateful nod. She got the message, and pulled him into a brief hug.

"Get some rest."

She then led Sam upstairs to Claire's room, grabbing more blankets from the wayward girl's closet. "Let me know if you need anything," she said, passing the blankets into Sam's arms.

He shook his head, a sheen in his eyes from the levee on his emotions being so close to breaking. He was in desperate need of a good night's sleep. "I'm good. Just…thank you."

She reached out to squeeze his arm. "Anytime."

She backed out of the room then and closed the door as Sam started spreading the blankets out. She figured he'd just collapse on top of them immediately.

The dishes were waiting downstairs, but Jody headed to Cas's room first to say goodnight to him. She was surprised when she entered his room and found him sitting on the foot of his bed, posture hunched.

"Cas? Why aren't in your pjs? It's bedtime."

Cas shrugged one shoulder, looking far more morose than his normally bubbly personality maintained. Jody closed the door behind her and came over to sit down next to him.

"Okay, what's wrong?"

He shrugged again.

"You know you might as well tell me. I'm a sheriff, and it's my job to find out the truth, so I'll figure it out eventually."

Cas kicked the back of his heel against the edge of the boxspring mattress. "They don't like me."

Jody's heart clenched. She'd been worried Cas would interpret the tension from dinner that way. "No, honey, that's not it. Sam and Dean…they lost a good friend recently, and they're still grieving."

She paused, not sure how to explain this whole messed up situation, or even if she should. How did she tell a little boy that he'd once been an angel, a warrior of Heaven? That he was here now, like this, after dying. After being  _murdered_. As if his periodic nightmares weren't bad enough.

No, that was not a conversation Jody was going to have with him, and she hoped the Winchesters wouldn't push the issue later. Because Jody would fight them on it. If Cas was going to get his memories back, it needed to be on his own, in his own time, and not from people desperately throwing wild stories at him that he was probably too young to fully understand right now.

Cas looked up at her. "If he's lost, can I help them find him?"

Jody's chest tightened again with love for this little miracle, and for the other two boys she'd somehow grown to love as her own. She pulled Cas into her arms.

"Maybe," she whispered carefully, pausing to chew on her next words. "You remind them of him, in some ways. That's why it's hard for them. But I think once they get to know you, some of that hurt will start to go away."

Cas craned his neck back to meet her gaze. "Really?"

She nodded. That was her hope, anyway. That being around this sweet, innocent spirit might be able to bring Sam and Dean some measure of healing amidst all the pain and heartbreak they'd gone through. They just needed time.

Jody patted Cas's leg. "Now come on, time to get ready for bed."

"Okay." He hopped off the mattress and went to get his pajamas from the dresser. After changing into them, he scurried into the bathroom to brush his teeth.

Jody took that minute to peek in on Sam, who was already out like a light, face down on the bed with his socks poking out from the bottom of the blanket. With a fond head shake, she went in and tugged the second blanket over his feet, then drew the first up to cover his shoulders. She lingered there a moment longer, glad that they were back and safe after she'd spent so long worrying about them. Granted, she knew it wouldn't last, not with the Winchesters' lives.

Jody tore herself away and returned to Cas's room just as he finished in the bathroom. She pulled the covers back and held them up as he scrambled onto the bed and lay down. Jody then draped the sheets and comforter over him and tucked him in securely.

"Night, Bug," she said.

"Night, Jody," Cas replied as he snuggled in for the night. "I love you."

She smiled, and bent down to kiss his forehead. "I love you, too."

* * *

Dean woke to a sliver of sunlight piercing just the right space in the blinds to hit him square in the face. With a muffled groan, he raised his arm over his eyes to block it out. His body was stiff and achy and obviously wanted to go back to sleep. But if it was morning already, then he must have slept harder than he'd expected to, especially on a somewhat lumpy couch.

Besides, with wakefulness came all the thoughts and emotions from last night that he'd blissfully had a break from in sleep. He couldn't avoid them forever, though.

Lowering his arm, he forced his eyes open, squinting against the glare. He shifted on the couch to lay on his side, and stiffened when he spotted a small figure in pajamas sitting cross-legged on the floor on the other side of the coffee table, blue eyes peering over the top at him. Just…watching him sleep.

Dean's chest constricted. Dammit, it was too early for this.

But, he hadn't exactly been very amiable last night, and Dean knew that wasn't fair to this kid who hadn't done anything wrong.

"Mornin'," Dean managed to say. He listened for sounds of anyone else awake, but the house was quiet. "You the only one up?"

Cas nodded. "Why does Sam make weird noises in his sleep?"

Dean blinked. "What?"

"He makes noises like a pig. I could hear him from my room." Cas paused. "Is he dreaming he is one? Sometimes I dream I'm a bird and can fly."

Dean tensed at that last part. "Yeah? What- what else do you dream about?"

Jody had said Cas had nightmares sometimes, like maybe he dreamed of stuff from his past life. Maybe his memories were just underneath the surface, trying to get out.

"Sometimes I dream Jody gets me a pony," Cas replied, catching Dean off guard. "She says I can't have one in real life, so I like dreaming about having one. What do you dream about?"

Dean tried to tamp down his disappointment. "Um…"

He dreamed of his best friend dying right in front of him, of a blazing supernova exploding from his chest, eyes, and mouth, the breathless gasp as it came so suddenly there was no time to scream. Of Cas's body falling lifelessly to the ground, and the whiff of ash floating on the air…

"I don't really dream," he said, voice rough with emotion. "Or I don't remember them."

Cas canted his head thoughtfully. "Me too."

They lapsed into silence, and Dean finally pushed himself up into a sitting position. Some of his joints creaked; he was getting too old for couches. He rubbed his face vigorously, trying to figure out what he should do. He was usually better with kids.

"You have breakfast yet?"

Cas shook his head.

Okay, then. Dean got to his feet. "Let's see what Jody has."

Cas's smile was tentative but eager, and he scampered ahead into the kitchen, going to the pantry and opening it. He pointed to a box of cereal on a shelf just out of reach, so Dean got it down for him. Lucky Charms. So kid Cas had a sweet tooth.

Dean grabbed a bowl from the cupboard and then a spoon, and set them on the kitchen table. It took him a moment to realize the kitchen was clean; he hadn't even heard Jody come back down to finish the dishes last night.

Cas dumped a huge helping of cereal into his bowl, scattering a few pieces on the table.

"Whoa there, tiger," Dean automatically said. "You gonna eat all that?"

"Yes. Do you want some?" Cas pushed the cereal box toward him.

Dean hesitated before deciding why not. "Sure."

He grabbed a bowl for himself and the milk carton from the fridge, and then sat down across from the kid. Dean frowned when Cas started picking through his cereal. Cas picked out all the purple marshmallows and reached over to drop them in Dean's bowl.

"You don't like those?" Dean asked dubiously.

Cas shook his head. "I like the green ones."

Dean hesitated for a beat before he went ahead and picked out all the green marshmallows he could find in his bowl and put them in Cas's. The kid beamed at him.

They fell into silence once more, save for the clank of spoons and crunch of cereal. Dean forced himself to just go through the motions, because he was still having a hard time wrapping his head around this whole situation. He wished his mom was there to help them with it.

He wished Castiel was there to help them find Mom.

Dean didn't notice when Jody had come down, only that he looked up at one point and found her leaning against the doorjamb and watching them. He felt a surge of gratitude for her, reminded that there was someone he could count on when everything else fell apart.

She pushed away from the frame and went to the counter with the coffeemaker, then let out a small noise of disbelief. "You didn't start a fresh pot?"

Dean started. "Oh, sorry. It…didn't even occur to me." He'd been so focused on getting the kid breakfast.

Jody flashed him an understanding look, and proceeded to get the brew going.

"Can I try coffee today?" Cas asked.

She shook her head. "No. I told you yesterday, you have to wait until you're older."

"But I'm a day older today."

Dean's mouth quirked. Gotta hand it to kid-logic. Which, in some ways was so very much like Cas-logic, too.

"Ask me again when you're fifteen," Jody replied, then paused and shook her head at herself, like she couldn't believe she was assuming Cas would be with her that long.

Cas canted his head. "Fifteen days?"

Dean let out a small chuckle. "Try years, bud."

"Oh. That's a long time."

Dean exchanged a look with Jody. Maybe not. They really needed to talk about that, but not until Sam was up.

"If you're done eating, why don't you go get dressed," Jody told Cas.

"Okay." Cas slid off his chair and skipped out of the kitchen.

The coffee machine gurgled out a hot stream of liquid into the pot, and it wasn't long after that Sam came shuffling in, mussy-haired and bleary-eyed. Jody poured them all cups of coffee.

"You guys sleep okay?" she asked.

"Like a rock," Dean replied.

Sam nodded groggily.

"Cas says you snore like a pig," Dean said, though he wasn't sure why he'd mentioned it.

His brother squinted at him. "What?"

"His words, not mine."

Sam huffed. "Yeah, well, you snore like a grizzly, jerk."

"Bitch."

"Hey, little ears are running around," Jody reprimanded.

Dean's cheeks warmed. "Sorry."

Sure enough, Cas came bounding back into the kitchen a couple of minutes later, Alex not far behind. Jody poured her a fresh cup of coffee, too.

"After you eat, want to take Cas outside to play for a bit?" Jody asked in a low tone.

Alex flicked a glance at Dean and Sam, a muscle in her cheek twitching. "Sure," she said, albeit reluctantly, and Dean wondered if her bonding with Cas made her want to be involved in the inevitable discussion they needed to have about his well-being.

She headed to the pantry and grabbed a bag of pop-tarts. "Hey, Cas, let's go outside."

"Can Dean come too?" Cas asked, which brought another pang to Dean's chest.

"Maybe later," she replied, gesturing for Cas to follow her out back.

The rest of the them waited for the sliding glass door to close behind them before speaking again. But even though they needed to talk, none of them seemed to know where to start.

Jody set her coffee mug down. "Okay, first off, I don't expect you guys to take Cas. Frankly, I don't think that'd be good for him at this point."

Dean didn't know whether to feel grateful or indignant that Jody wanted to keep Cas. He didn't know whether to hate himself for the measure of relief that followed her declaration. He settled on sober acceptance; otherwise they wouldn't get anywhere.

"What about the growth spurts?" Sam asked. "I mean, do we think he could be fully grown in another few months? And what about getting his memory back?"

"I'm not going to push the memory thing," Jody said abruptly. "He's too young to deal with that. If it comes back on its own, great. But he doesn't need to deal with triggers."

Dean frowned, thinking about what she'd said about nightmares. That was probably the wise decision, even if a small part of him didn't like it.

Jody worked her jaw for a moment. "There is another issue. Cas got sick right before the growth spurts happened. He was fine afterward, but if that's part of the process…it got pretty severe this last time."

Dean jerked ramrod straight in alarm. "What?"

"That's why I took him to the psychic. Not that she was much help."

"Maybe it's normal for an angel?" Sam guessed.

Dean snorted. "Nothing about this is normal." He didn't like the idea of Cas getting sick, though.

"Do you know an angel you could ask?" Jody queried.

Dean's mouth turned down. "No. And I wouldn't trust any of them anyway." Certainly not with a young and vulnerable Cas.

Jody sighed. "Yeah, I figured that would be the case."

Sam folded his arms across the table as his brow furrowed in contemplation. "What about his vessel? Or, I mean, I guess it's not technically a vessel. But do you think he'll grow up to look like, well, Jimmy?"

Dean got up and started pacing. Great, a stranger that wore his best friend's face. Like when Cas had come back as Emmanuel after Dean had lost him to the Leviathan. Was all this some huge cosmic joke?

Jody's mouth was pinched in equal intense thought. "I'll be right back," she said, excusing herself.

Dean ran a hand down his jaw, and paused to look out the window where Alex was helping Cas water their vegetable garden.

"Dean?" Sam asked quietly.

"How can you be so academic about this?" he said with a sharp edge.

"I'm trying to make sense of it," Sam replied. "Don't you think I want Cas back too? But he's here, and there's still a chance. We just have to be patient and not give up."

A frustrated sound caught in Dean's throat, and he shook his head. Be patient, right. He was never very good at that.

Jody came back in then and set an old photograph on the kitchen table. "I got this from Claire's room."

Sam let out a surprised exhalation. "That's Jimmy?"

Dean walked back over to take a look. The photo was faded and crackled, but the young kid it had captured was unmistakeable. So Cas had somehow ended up with the same vessel—body—as he'd had before. Did that make him a clone? If so, then maybe their Cas wasn't even in there at all.

Dean turned away as he felt his throat closing up again.

"So," Jody began hesitantly, "what'd you end up telling Claire?"

Dean straightened, and exchanged a guilty look with Sam.

"We, uh, haven't," his brother admitted.

"We have been out of reach," Dean added, though even he knew the excuse sounded pathetic.

Jody pursed her mouth in what might have been disapproval, maybe understanding. "She's hasn't exactly been keeping in regular contact, either."

"Does she know about…?" Sam asked.

"We've only talked once on the phone since Cas has been here, and I mentioned that I'd taken in a kid. Claire asked if I'd given her room away." Jody rolled her eyes, but then added in a more melancholic tone, "I don't think she's ready to come back yet. Which may be for the best, anyhow."

Dean reached a hand up to rub the back of his neck. Yeah, that wasn't at all awkward.

"I'm sorry we don't have any answers," he said, then hesitated. "And I'm not sure we can really be of any use here."

"I know you still have to find your mom," Jody said. She also waited a beat before going on, "I've been getting some reports from other hunters, weird stuff they can't attribute to your run-of-the-mill monster…"

Dean stiffened.

"You thinking nephilim?" Sam asked.

She shrugged. "I don't know. That stuff is so far out of my wheelhouse. I just thought you should know."

Great, more to heap on their plate. Sometimes Dean wished it wasn't his job to save the world.

"Yeah, we'll look into it," he said wearily, feeling like he was betraying Mom by getting sidetracked.

Jody's eyes wavered sympathetically. "If you need any help, I'm here."

Dean gave her a wan yet real smile. "You are helping. And, uh, if you could pack us some of that chicken for the road…"

Her mouth quirked. "Sure thing."

Dean cast another look out the window at Cas, and tried not to feel like he was betraying his best friend, too. Besides, Cas was in good hands here, better than he'd be with Dean, in any case.

Dean didn't know if he had the strength left to hope for further miracles like Sam always managed to do. A part of him wanted to, desperately. But another part was afraid he wouldn't be able to take the pain.

And so he accepted that distance might be the best thing right now. For all of them.


	7. Chapter 7

Alex sat at the dining room table, slaving over her calculus homework. "I cannot wait for summer session to be over," she moaned.

Cas looked up from his own studies. Jody had figured they'd better start homeschooling him or something, though it was hard to figure out what grade he should be in, so Jody had just picked a basic level and started from there.

"You don't like school?" he asked.

"No, I do," Alex quickly replied. "I just don't always understand this stuff." It meant she had to work harder, but that made her achievement something she could be all the more proud of.

"Can I help?"

She tried to hide a smile. "Thanks for the offer, but you've got your own math to focus on."

"I'm done."

"What?" He'd only started fifteen minutes ago.

Cas slid his notebook over and Alex skimmed the page. Every problem had an answer written down, but no work showing the steps of addition or multiplication of fractions. Yet even Alex could tell that the answers were right. He'd even simplified them.

"Cas, did you solve these in your head?"

"Yes. How else would I solve them?"

Alex leaned back in her chair. He was quite the little prodigy. She thought for a moment, then looked around. Jody was upstairs. "Okay, Cas, let's see if you can solve this, too." She nudged her calculus homework closer for him to look at.

Cas studied it for a long moment, tongue poking the inside of his cheek. Then he took his pencil and scritched out an answer on the paper. Alex frowned, and quickly flipped to the back of the book and the answer key. Huh, he was right.

"You like math?" she asked.

Cas shrugged. "It's okay. I like reading more. And I think I'd like school. Do you think I can go with you in the fall?"

Alex let out a small laugh. With his aptitude, he probably could get into college—and graduate before her.

"In school, they want you to write out all the steps when you're doing math. So can you show me what you did here?" she asked, pointing to the calc problem.

"Okay."

Alex watched carefully as he started to dissect the calculus problem, blowing her mind in the process. But she also saw where she was getting tripped up, and how to work around it.

"I owe you an ice cream," she said once he'd finished the problem.

Cas canted his head thoughtfully. "For doing math?"

"Yeah. And for doing a good job." Alex turned her attention to the next problem to try for herself.

"What do you get for doing math?" Cas asked.

Alex looked up and smirked. "A headache and college credits."

He frowned. "You should get ice cream, too."

Shaking her head, she reached over to muss his hair. "I'll settle for just having some fun after finals."

Cas was still studying her intently, then his eyes lit up. "How about the carnival? We can go there for fun. It has cotton candy and rides, and these games where you can win big stuffed animals. I don't know how to play any carnival games, but I'll try to win you one!"

Alex couldn't help but smile at his enthusiasm and sincerity. "You know what, that sounds like a great idea."

Cas beamed. "Carnivals have ponies too, right?"

She chuckled. "Yeah, they do. So I'd better get back to work and make sure I pass those finals."

"Me too," Cas said, and flipped his notebook over to a new page where he started copying down the problems from her textbook.

Alex just shook her head in amusement and returned her focus to her homework.

And tried not to peek too many times at Cas's.

* * *

Jody mixed water and egg yolks into the pancake mix, whisking until the batter was pale and runny. Then she set it aside while she waited for a hungry munchkin and stressed teenager to come down for breakfast. Everything was ready, including the fresh pot of coffee, and a bag of chocolate chips should anyone decide they wanted them in their pancakes. But she'd also set out bottles of maple syrup and blueberry syrup on the table, sparing none of the fixings.

Alex appeared first, backpack slung over one shoulder as she pulled up short in the kitchen. "Uh, what is all this?"

"I figured you could use a hearty meal before your final," Jody said, and grabbed the batter to start pouring into the heated pan sitting ready on the stove. "Bacon's in the microwave with the time set, you just need to hit start."

Alex's lips quirked as she took in everything. "Aren't pancakes more of a celebratory thing for afterward?"

"Nah, you totally got this. And I thought you were taking Cas to the carnival this weekend as a fun reward? You want chocolate chips in yours?"

Alex smirked. "I'll just have butter and syrup."

She deposited her book bag in a chair and went over to start the microwave. Thirty seconds later, the smell of cooked bacon filled the kitchen, competing with the warm aroma of grilled batter.

"Where is the squirt?" Alex asked.

Jody furrowed her brow. "I don't know." She flipped the pancakes in the pan and set the spatula against the edge. "These are almost done. You start eating and I'll go see what's keeping him."

Jody exited the kitchen and headed upstairs to Cas's room. The lamp wasn't on, but there was plenty of ambient light seeping through the blinds. When she poked her head through the doorway, she spotted a lump still in bed.

"Cas?" Jody flicked the light switch on as she entered, and tensed at the sight of Cas curled on his side, expression pinched in distress. "Sweetie, what's wrong?"

"I don't feel good," he whimpered.

Jody stiffened. The only other times Cas had gotten sick were before those growth spurts. Were they on the verge of one again? How much bigger could they expect him to get this time?

She shoved those questions down since they had no answers, and reached out to feel his forehead. Definitely a fever.

Well, crap. Jody wondered if there was any chance he could have just caught a normal bug. Somehow, she knew that was a very,  _very_  slim chance. Either way, there was little she could do except keep Cas hydrated, nourished, and resting, and brace for the imminent age jump.

She sat down on the edge of the bed and stroked his hair back. "Want some toast?" She'd have to put the pancake stuff away, but better they didn't risk upsetting his stomach with something so rich and heavy.

Cas made a muffled noise that didn't quite sound like affirmation, but he needed to eat something.

Jody rubbed his back. "I'll go make some."

"Did Alex leave yet?" he asked.

"No, she's still getting ready."

Cas shifted under the covers to look up at her blearily. "Tell her good luck for me?"

Jody smiled. "I will. Now just hang tight, I'll be right back."

She stood and headed back downstairs, briefly wondering if she should tell Alex. The girl didn't need this to worry about on the day of her math final. But when Jody re-entered the kitchen, she realized she couldn't lie. And she had a terrible poker face.

Alex looked up from her plate, expression falling. "What's wrong?"

Jody suppressed a sigh. "Cas is sick again."

Alex straightened sharply. "Sick like before?"

"I don't know. Probably. But listen, I don't want you worrying about this right now. You just focus on your final."

Alex surged to her feet. "But what if it gets bad again? What if you need to take him to a hospital?"

This time Jody did sigh. "Even if it does get bad, I don't think we  _can_  take him to a hospital. It's too risky." And she hated that, because what if this was the one time it was a normal virus? Though, if that  _was_  the case, then it shouldn't get bad enough to need a doctor as long as Jody kept Cas hydrated and resting.

"Look," she went on, "he just woke up sick this morning, and I'm sure nothing's going to happen before you finish your exam in a couple of hours."

Alex's mouth disappeared into a thin line.

"You've worked too hard not to go out there and finish now," Jody pressed.

"Like I'm gonna be able to concentrate," she muttered.

Jody came forward and put her hands on Alex's shoulders. "You can do this. I know you can do this, and so does Cas. He told me to wish you good luck. You know going and finishing your exam will make him happy."

Alex leveled a dark glower at her. "That's low."

"Is it working?"

She huffed. "Yes. Fine."

Jody gave her a small smile. "Good. Now you get out there and kick it in the ass."

Alex moved past her to pick up her backpack. "But you'll text me if it gets serious?"

"Don't be checking your phone during the exam; they'll think you're cheating!"

" _Jody_."

Her shoulders sagged. "If there's a  _real_  emergency, I will call you. But I mean it, don't stress. I got this." At least, she hoped so.

Alex sucked on the inside of her cheek in obvious reluctance, but finally nodded. "Okay. Let me know if you need me to pick up anything from the store on my way home."

"I will. And hey, good luck." Jody gave her a quick hug, and then watched her head out. She hoped Alex would be able to set aside her worry for Cas and pass her exam.

Jody stuck a piece of bread in the toaster and cleaned up the pancake stuff, putting the leftover batter in the freezer in case it could be used later. Then she poured a cup of juice and buttered the toast when it was done, sprinkling some cinnamon-sugar over it. Placing everything on a breakfast tray, she carried it back up to Cas's room.

"Here we go," she said, setting the tray on the bed.

Cas rolled over, and then scooted up a few inches so he could eat somewhat upright. Jody watched him nibble on the toast and sip the juice, and prayed she'd be able to handle whatever came next.

* * *

They spent the next three days on pins and needles, waiting for Cas to spontaneously combust with an eruption of glowing light. But it didn't happen. In fact, he only seemed to be growing sicker. The persistent fever sapped his strength and left him sleeping for hours on end. While he'd been able to eat regularly at first, that had waned, too. Cas was a thin boy to begin with, but now he was looking waifish and sickly pale.

Jody started wrestling with the urge to take him to Urgent Care, but what if the growth spurt finally happened while they were there? That would be a disaster. But why was it taking so long this time? Longer than the previous times he'd been sick right before it happened. She was almost becoming impatient for it, because at least once it was done and over with, Cas would be well again.

She finally called Roma the psychic and convinced her to make a house call. Even though the woman had barely been helpful the first time, Jody had no one else even remotely qualified to turn to, and she couldn't keep watching Cas suffer in misery and be unable to  _do_  anything to make it better. And maybe Roma would even be able to tell more when Cas was in an…active cycle or whatever.

Jody paced throughout the living room as she waited for the woman to show. It had taken a little pleading and a little browbeating to get the psychic to make the special trip. Jody hadn't been able to offer much as extra payment; she was blowing through her sick time as it was. But at least Roma had agreed. She actually seemed curious about Cas, and a part of Jody didn't like that kind of attention, but they needed answers from  _someone_.

The doorbell finally rang, and Jody pivoted sharply to go answer it. Roma stood on her doorstep, shoulders back and taut, expression looking slightly put-out. Jody couldn't even care.

"Thank you for coming," she said, and there must have been something in her voice or expression, because Roma's demeanor shifted as she came inside.

"Where is he?" she asked gently.

"This way." Jody led her upstairs.

Alex was sitting on the bed and massaging some Vicks Vapor Rub with eucalyptus oil onto Cas's chest. He'd started wheezing the day before.

"Hey, Cas," Jody said soothingly, "you remember Roma, right?"

Cas gazed at them blearily. "The doctor?"

Roma arched a brow at Jody, but quickly donned a bright smile for Cas. "I hear you're not feeling well."

Cas shook his head, mussing his hair against the pillow.

"Alright, let's see if we can't figure out why."

Roma moved to sit in the chair by the bed, and Alex scooted off the mattress to get out of the way. The psychic leaned forward and wrapped both her hands around Cas's tiny one. She closed her eyes.

Jody worried at her lip as she watched, remembering that tesla coil comment from the first time. Would the energy be less dangerous with Cas so weak, or more so if it was on the verge of a growth spurt? Though, by this point, Jody had a serious feeling deep in her gut that something was very wrong.

Roma's brows knitted together, but she didn't jerk away, and in fact held on longer this time. Her mouth started moving in soundless words, perhaps a chant or spell, Jody had no way of knowing. Alex was a knot of tension beside her, arms tucked against herself tightly. Jody reached out to wrap her in a half hug.

Finally, Roma opened her eyes. She blinked for a moment, then gently disengaged from Cas's hand and stood up. There was a grimness in her eyes Jody didn't like.

"Can you make it go away?" Cas asked in a frail voice.

A muscle in the psychic's cheek ticked, but she swiftly covered it up with a smile. "You just rest, dear, while I talk to your mom." She moved toward the door, and Jody followed her out into the hall. Alex came to stand in the doorway.

"I was afraid this might happen when I first saw him," Roma said in a low voice.

Jody's spine stiffened. The woman hadn't said anything at their first reading… "Afraid of what?" she demanded.

Roma shook her head. "The strange conglomeration of energy is becoming too overwhelming for him to contain. One part, I assume the wild magic that contaminated him at birth, is starting to consume his own life force."

Jody felt the oxygen get sucked out of her lungs. "Meaning what?" she asked raggedly.

Roma gave her a sober look. "He's dying. I'm sorry."

Jody reeled back. "Are you- are you sure? Because he was sick like this right before some surge of power that made him grow super fast…" Except it wasn't  _sick like this_  the previous times. That much was painfully obvious this time around.

"Maybe when he was smaller, the energies were more balanced," Roma replied. "But equilibrium like that is very difficult to maintain, even for skilled magic practitioners. For a child who was subjected to such wild magic…?" She shook her head again. "This was most likely inevitable."

"Well, then what do we do to fix it?" Alex asked desperately.

Roma turned a sympathetic look toward her. "I don't know. I personally can't help you. Maybe if you wanted to find a witch…"

Jody's gut clenched. Yeah, that didn't sound like a good idea. She didn't have good experience with witches, save for Max and Alicia Banes. She hadn't heard from them in a while, though, and they hadn't answered the summons when the hunters had geared up to take on the British Men of Letters.

She managed to nod numbly at Roma. "Thank you."

"I'm sorry I couldn't give better news." She glanced over Alex's shoulder to where Cas was lying in bed, eyes closed. In the silence, they could hear the soft hitches of shallow breathing. "He seems like a sweet kid."

A spiky lump lodged in Jody's throat, and she tried to force it down. She wasn't giving up yet.

She walked Roma back downstairs and paid her, then saw her out. As she shut the door and turned around, she found Alex standing behind her, eyes glistening.

"She could be wrong, right? He just needs some time…" Her voice cracked and the tears started to fall.

Jody enfolded her in a hug. "We are not giving up," she said staunchly. "We need a miracle, and I know who's good at pulling ones out of their asses."

She drew back and gave Alex a look of firm resolve. The girl nodded shakily, and Jody stepped away to pick up the phone and dial the Winchesters. This time they answered on the first ring.

"You need to get over here."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember I write happy endings!


	8. Chapter 8

Dean broke every speed limit there was, but it still took them a day to get to Sioux Falls. They'd been following up on a lead on Jack, and hadn't even gotten very far into it when Jody called. But the moment she said Cas was sick again, Dean and Sam had dropped everything. So what if Lucifer's kid had gone out and maybe slaughtered an entire herd of cattle. Cas was their priority.

Dean was on edge the entire drive, wondering how old Cas would be when they got there, if he'd finally start to remember them…

But Jody had said there was a problem this time, that the 'growth spurt' or whatever wasn't coming, and Cas was just getting sicker. Dean didn't know what that was supposed to mean, but it barreled through the wall of emotional detachment he'd been trying to maintain and gripped his heart with growing fear. Because of course resurrections were never so simple. Especially when they came from some freaky hatchling of the Devil's spawn.

They finally pulled into Jody's driveway, and Dean hastily shut off the engine before he and Sam climbed out of the car. Jody didn't meet them at the door this time, so they simply tried the handle and found it unlocked.

"Jody?" Dean called as he and Sam burst inside.

Footsteps pattered down the stairs and Jody appeared, looking both harried and relieved. "Thank god you're here."

"How is he?" Dean asked right away.

Worry wavered in her eyes. "He's getting worse. I- I don't know what to do."

"Are you sure it's supernatural?" Sam asked. "I mean, if he's not having a growth spurt, could it be a human disease?"

Jody shook her head. "I had the psychic come out. She said the energies inside him are unbalanced, and one is starting to drain him or something." Her next breath hitched. "She said he's dying."

Dean felt the floor drop out from under him. No. Not again, no. Hadn't the universe been cruel enough?

Jody looked away, eyes watering, and Sam stepped forward to envelop her in a hug.

"We'll figure it out," he said, but the worried look he cast Dean over her head belied the confidence in that assertion.

"Where is he?" Dean asked.

Jody let out a shaky breath as she pulled back from Sam and wiped her eyes. "Upstairs. Alex is with him."

Dean turned to head up there while Sam stayed with Jody. Only one bedroom had a light on inside, so Dean made his way toward it. He hesitated on the threshold, peering inside at Cas tucked in bed and propped up slightly against a mound of pillows. Dark circles under his eyes emphasized the stark paleness in the rest of his complexion, and every couple of minutes or so his chest would rise sharply with a strained breath. On one side of the bed was a humidifier on a stool, diffusing steam that smelled strongly of essential oils toward him; on the other was Alex, sitting in a chair and reading aloud from a book. Something with talking animals defending an abbey with swords and other medieval sounding weaponry.

Dean couldn't bring himself to move. Cas was so small and quiet as he listened to the story, nothing like the vibrant and curious kid from before.

_"He's dying."_

Dean felt like he was, too.

Alex happened to glance up and see him, and she placed a bookmark between the pages and then set the paperback aside. "I'll go heat up some chicken noodle soup," she told Cas as she stood up.

She met Dean's gaze as she stopped in the doorway beside him, and he could see how distraught she was, just like Jody. They'd come to care about Cas as much as Dean and Sam did.

"Can you do anything?" she asked quietly with a thread of desperate pleading.

But it wasn't like Dean had ever dealt with this kind of thing before, or knew what the hell he was supposed to do to fix it.

Yet he and Sam had built a reputation of doing the impossible, of beating insurmountable odds.

"We're going to do our damnedest," he promised.

Alex nodded, and slipped past him.

Dean swallowed hard, and finally forced himself to step into the room. Cas was looking at him blearily.

"Hey there, buddy."

Cas didn't say anything.

"I'm Dean, remember?" His voice almost hitched, but he reined it in. "I came to visit a few weeks ago."

Cas nodded slowly. "You're Jody's friend."

Dean's chest tightened with guilt and recrimination. He shouldn't have stayed away, should have come by more often, or- or at least called, talked to Cas over the phone. Anything other than what Dean had actually done—abandon him. Because it had hurt too much. Well, it still hurt. Distance hadn't blunted the pain he felt in this moment, and regret only sharpened it.

"I'd like to be your friend, too," he managed to get out past a thick throat. "If that's okay."

Cas looked as though he were thinking about it. Then he tried to sit up a little straighter in bed, and pointed to the dresser. "I made you something, in case you came back."

Dean blinked. "You did?"

"Mm-hm. Over there." He kept pointing at the dresser, so Dean went over to it where a bunch of handmade clay figures sat. "The angel," Cas said, and Dean stared dumbstruck at the little figurine, just a cone base but with the contour shape of wings fanning out to either side.

Dean closed his eyes and took a moment to collect himself. Was it just random, or was it that somewhere, deep down, some part of Cas was still in there?

Dean cleared his throat and picked up the clay piece.

"Jody said you lost your friend," Cas's small voice spoke again. "So I made you an angel to help you find him."

Dammit, Dean's heart was going to shatter into a million pieces, because his best friend was practically  _right there_ , yet so far out of reach.

A single tear slipped free and ran down his face. Dean hastily raised a hand to wipe it away.

"Are you upset?" Cas suddenly asked, voice higher. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No, no," Dean said hurriedly, and made sure his eyes were dry when he turned back to the kid. "No, I'm not upset. Thank you, for the gift. It means a lot to me."

Cas continued to gaze at him doubtfully, but it was then broken by a small cough, which rapidly descended into a fit. Cas crumpled forward under the barrage, and Dean rushed to the side of the bed where he braced the boy's thin frame and rubbed circles across his back.

"Easy, easy."

Cas let out a small mewl as the fit abated and left him shaking and wheezing horribly. Dean reached for a cup of water on the nightstand and held it to Cas's lips.

"Easy, slow sips," he instructed as Cas struggled to swallow against the urge to draw in ragged breaths. When he was done, Dean set the cup aside and then shifted Cas slightly so he was facing the humidifier. "Easy, just breathe."

Dean kept up a steady rhythm of rubbing Cas's back until his breathing gradually evened out. Cas sagged in his arms, and Dean gently eased him back against the pillows, the attack having utterly drained him.

"I don't like this," Cas moaned.

Dean's heart clenched with sympathy. "I know, buddy. No one likes to be sick."

"Alex and I were supposed to go to the carnival," he said pitifully. "As a treat because she finished her math class." He whimpered. "Do you think she's mad I ruined it for her?"

"No, no," Dean said firmly. "She's not mad at all. All she wants is for you to get better. Trust me."

And Dean realized in that moment that all he wanted was for Cas to be alive and well, and if it meant him being a kid…meant him being  _happy_  for once in his incredibly long life, even if he didn't remember everything that came before, then Dean was fine with that. He'd take anything, as long as Cas wasn't completely lost to him forever.

And he wasn't. Dean had already seen glimpses that Cas—the core of him—was still in there. In the way he thought of others, even those who were practically strangers to him, in the way he watched the bees and asked curious questions. That was Cas, always had been. They'd gotten a second chance with him, and Dean wasn't going to waste it anymore.

He reached out to brush some of Cas's mussed hair away from his forehead as the kid's eyelids slowly slid shut in exhaustion.

"I will fix this," Dean whispered.

When Alex came back with a mug of soup, he reluctantly tore himself away. He had work to do.

He headed back downstairs to where Sam was on the couch scrolling away on his tablet, probably already searching through the Men of Letters archives. Not that they'd have anything remotely related to this situation. Jody was sitting in the living room's recliner with a cup of tea in her hands.

"Got any ideas so far?" Dean asked.

Sam looked up with a frown. "Not yet. Honestly, I'm not even sure where to look…"

Yeah, that's what Dean figured. "Okay, well, it's the nephilim's energy that's hurting Cas, right?" He turned to Jody with a questioning look.

She frowned. "I don't know. The psychic just said one energy signature was becoming too much."

"Which has to be the nephilim's," Dean persisted. "It's more powerful, seeing as it brought Cas back in the first place. So we extract it, just like we'd planned to do with Kelly's baby."

Sam's brows knitted together. "But the psychic also said that energy was woven into Cas's soul."

"Angels don't have souls," Dean pointed out.

"I don't think Cas is an angel anymore. I think whatever power the nephilim was leaking went sort of…wild, and it pieced Cas back together, but it only used parts of his grace and…something else, and somehow made a soul. Otherwise this psychic's eyes should have burned out when she read Cas's aura."

Jody's eyes widened. "Crap," she muttered. "I could have killed that woman when I took Cas to see her?"

Sam grimaced. "Probably just blinded her, but you didn't know. And it didn't happen." He looked back at Dean. "Which is why I'm pretty certain that Cas isn't an angel. And if we try to extract anything with that method, we could do more harm than good."

"Than what are we supposed to do?" Dean snapped. "Watch him die? I'm not doing that again!"

The echo of his outburst rang painfully in the ensuing silence, and Dean had to turn away. He couldn't let himself fall apart. Cas needed him, and Dean wasn't going to let him down this time.

"Then is there another method?" Jody spoke up. "To extract the harmful energy?"

Sam shook his head helplessly. "I don't know."

"What about all that spell casting you've been studying lately?" Dean demanded as he turned back to his brother. "And the tweaking you did with the sigils when we were reality hopping? Can't you invent something here, like the Men of Letters did with that demon cure?"

Sam's jaw ticked. "That took them over a year to perfect. And the nephilim's power is supposed to be one of the strongest in all creation. I'm not sure anything I can do would have much effect."

Dean ran a hand down his jaw and started to pace. Dammit, they needed something,  _anything_.

"We could find Jack," Sam suggested.

Dean whirled on him. Anything except  _that_. "Like he'd even help us."

Sam shot him an exasperated bitch-face. "We don't know that for sure. And at least he's got the juice."

"Do you have any leads on him?" Jody asked.

Dean clenched his jaw. Yeah, the one they'd dropped to rush over here.

"Nothing concrete yet," Sam admitted.

"From what we have managed to track down," Dean added, "Lucifer Jr. seems to be bouncing between helping people or flat-out murdering them. Whatever strikes his fancy."

And Dean was not risking Cas's life on that kind of whim.

Jody gave him a pained look. "Do we have a choice?"

Dean looked away. No, they didn't. It was a crappy situation with only crappy avenues to try and fix it. Just like always. But Dean couldn't gamble with a  _kid_ …

"What if some of Jack's energy is still at the lake house?" Sam spoke up.

"How would that help us?" Jody asked.

He started tapping at his tablet screen. "Well, if it's just lingering there, then maybe I could try tapping into it for a power boost or something."

Dean tensed. He didn't like the sound of that, either. What if it was dangerous, or, hell, what if tangling with that kind of power changed Sam the way it'd changed Cas? Dammit, why was Dean always having to choose between one or the other? Put himself on the line, no problem, but he couldn't stand to watch his family and friends do it.

"Okay, here we go," Sam said excitedly. "A recent news blurb from North Cove, Washington says that the lake that mysteriously froze in the middle of spring is just now starting to thaw."

Jody's brows rose. "And that means…?"

"We can't know for sure unless we go up there," Sam said. "But it's possible some of that wild magic was trapped in the frozen lake. So maybe I can use it… Or!" He straightened sharply. "Maybe we can do a spell to reunite the fragments. Bind the wild magic in Cas to what's in the lake and- and drain it out that way!"

Jody's face scrunched up. "That sounds…complicated."

"It sounds like a long-shot," Dean said. He drew his shoulders back. "So let's do it."

* * *

Alex sat in the chair by the bed, watching Cas's chest rise and fall with strained breaths. The essential oils in the humidifier helped open up his compromised airways, but it was painfully obvious that it was becoming less effective. It wasn't fair. All the modern medicine in the world, and none of it could help this sweet, innocent little boy because he was being plagued by something supernatural. Alex hated it. She hated how monsters and magic ruined people's lives. If things were normal, Cas would be in a hospital right now getting proper medical treatment.

But then, if it weren't for magic, Cas wouldn't be in their lives at all. Alex knew the whole situation was heart-wrenching for Sam and Dean, couldn't imagine going through something like this with someone she loved, like Jody. And it made her feel guilty that their loss had equaled her gain.

Though, she had always kept in the back of her mind the possibility that Cas would eventually turn back into that angel the Winchesters and Claire would sometimes talk about. A few more growth spurts, and she'd have to say goodbye to her 'little brother,' probably go on as if his stay with them had never happened.

But this…Alex didn't want to lose Cas this way. She hoped Sam and Dean would think of something like they always seemed to.

She looked up when Jody strode into the room with apparent purpose.

"Can you pack a bag for Cas? Warm clothes."

Alex's heart leaped into her throat, and she surged to her feet. "What's going on?"

"Sam thinks we might be able to help Cas if we take him back to the lake where he was…where this all started," Jody replied. "So if you could pack a bag for Cas, including all the meds, I'm gonna throw some of my stuff together. I don't know how long we'll be gone—"

"I'm coming too."

Jody gave her a sympathetic look. "It's a long drive to Washington, and we're not even sure this will work…"

"Which is why I have to go. If it doesn't work…if he…" Tears pricked the corners of her eyes, but Alex swallowed them back and lifted her chin. "I'm going."

Jody's own eyes wavered with emotion, and after a moment she nodded. "Alright. I'll tell the guys we need to take two cars, then. Yours okay? Cas will probably be more comfortable in it."

Alex nodded. "Yeah, of course."

"Okay. Pack for at least four days."

Jody swept out of the room, and Alex immediately went to the closet to dig out a duffel bag. Then she went to the dresser and started throwing drawers open and stuffing articles into the bag. After that, she went into her bedroom to hastily pack a gym bag. She dumped the binder and notebooks that she hadn't yet cleaned out from her backpack onto the floor and carried that back into Cas's room where she gathered up all the meds on the dresser and nightstand and tossed them inside. She tried to mentally run through a check-list to make sure she hadn't missed anything, but it was difficult to be certain when they were in such a hurry. Jody had seemed like she wanted to get going right away, which, given the direness of the situation, wasn't unfounded.

Alex went back to the closet and pulled out a sweater, then went and sat on the bed next to Cas. The dip in the mattress roused him, and his eyelids fluttered open with a small moan.

"Hey, champ, let's get you dressed, okay?"

"Are we going somewhere?" he asked sleepily.

"Yeah, a road trip. Does that sound like fun?"

"Mmph," he grunted as she helped him sit upright and slipped the sweater over his head. "Not the carnival?"

"Not this time. This will be better, though."  _This will make you better_.

She manipulated his arms through the sleeves, and then tugged the sweater the rest of the way down over his pajama shirt. He could wear those in the car. She also didn't bother with shoes, just grabbed two sets of socks to slip over his feet.

"Is Dean coming?" he asked.

"He is. So is Sam," Alex replied, and stuffed Cas's shoes into the duffel with the clothes.

"What about Jody?"

"We're all going."

Jody came back then, with Dean in tow. "Ready?" she asked.

Alex nodded, and picked up her duffel, while Jody grabbed the bags she'd packed for Cas. Dean went over to the little man.

"Hey, buddy, you ready to go?"

"I guess so," Cas said uncertainly.

Dean bent down to lift Cas into his arms, and then they all made their way downstairs and out front to where Sam was already waiting. Dean carried Cas to Alex's car and put him in the booster seat in the back, which Jody had moved from her truck. After buckling him in, Dean stepped back and Jody squeezed in to bundle Cas in a couple of blankets.

"Warm enough?" she asked.

He nodded, still looking groggy and confused as to what they were doing.

Jody gently shut his door, then turned to the Winchesters, expression tense. "Let's go, then."

Sam and Dean nodded soberly and went to climb into the Impala. Jody slid behind the wheel of Alex's car, opting to drive. Alex didn't mind. She slipped into the front passenger seat and buckled up, and then they all backed out of the driveway and hit the road.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Road trip!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check out the adorable sketch of kid!Cas Casquecest drew for this fic: http://casquecest.tumblr.com/post/163434080160/miracles-do-happen-ch-8

Sam buried himself in research during the drive. Everything he'd suggested with this plan had been purely theoretical, and he wished he had more time to go through the Men of Letters archives, consult more magic books, make sure he knew exactly what he was doing and that it would work. But he only had the time it would take them to get to the lake house, and in the spots where there was no WiFi, he'd be unable to access the online archive if he suddenly thought of something else to check.

He did have a spell for reassembling fragments of something, which was what he hoped to use here. As long as there really was power left over at the lake. He should only need a little in order to bind the nephilim's energy signature. But then the trick would be to make sure the pieces gathered together  _outside_  of Cas, not that the stuff at the lake would be drawn into him and make things ten times worse.

Yeah, Sam really wished he had more time.

They eventually pulled over at a diner to get some dinner, and Sam brought his tablet inside so he could get some more work done. The waitress seated them in a horseshoe shaped booth, Alex scooting around into the center with Jody and Cas on her right and Dean on her left. Sam ended up sliding in on Jody's other side. They were left with menus and a few minutes to decide, though Sam immediately connected to the restaurant's WiFi, since their password was printed on the drink menu attached to the salt and pepper shakers.

"What are you hungry for, Bug?" Jody asked Cas.

"'M not hungry," he mumbled.

She pulled him into her lap. "You have to eat something."

"Look, they have chicken nuggets," Alex said, sliding her menu over. Cas just gave the thing a wan look.

"I love chicken nuggets," Dean spoke up. "We could share."

Sam quirked a bewildered look at his brother, and was about to ask since when, but Jody was already talking again.

"How's that sound?" she asked, rubbing Cas's back.

"Okay," he said in a small voice, and Jody threw Dean a grateful look over the boy's head.

Sometimes Sam forgot how good his older brother was with kids, though it wasn't surprising; Dean had raised him, after all.

The waitress came back and they placed their orders. Sam got a hamburger with his salad so Dean could have more than chicken nuggets to eat.

Cas squirmed in Jody's lap. "I have to go to the bathroom."

"Okay." She picked him up and started scooting toward the edge. Sam hastily climbed out so they could exit.

"I got it," Dean said, standing up and coming around to take Cas's hand as the boy slid from the booth.

Sam sat back down, more absorbed in his research.

"Find anything?" Jody's voice interrupted his concentration.

He looked up. "Oh, um, not really."

"I thought we already had a plan?" Alex said.

Sam rolled his shoulder. "We do. It's just…untested."

Alex's eyes widened in alarm. "It's not dangerous, is it?"

"We're running out of time," Jody put in calmly, though her own worry was evident in her expression. "And this is all we have."

Sam hated it, but it was true. "That's why I'm going over this a hundred more times to make sure I've thought of everything and got all our bases covered."

Alex leaned back in the booth. "I wish I could do something to help."

"You are," Jody said. "Keeping Cas's mind off things in the car is a huge help. For both of us."

The girl shrugged. "It doesn't feel like enough."

"I know."

They fell into a morose silence at that, and Sam dropped his gaze back to his tablet. Even with all his resources and quadruple checking things, he worried it wouldn't be enough in the end.

Dean and Cas came back, and Sam once again slid out of his seat so Cas could climb back in.

"Switch with me," Dean said, cocking his head toward the opposite side of the booth where he'd been sitting before.

Sam didn't argue, and moved around to the other side while Dean took his place, nestling Cas between him and Jody. Their food came a minute later, and most of the meal was eaten in silence, save for a few words of encouragement from Dean to Cas about eating his food. He would take a fork and knife and cut a chicken nugget in half, giving one piece to Cas and picking up the other for himself. Cas didn't look hungry at all, but he got the pieces down. Sam wondered if Cas noticed when Dean started cutting the nuggets into uneven proportions, giving Cas the bigger chunks. Either way, at least he was eating.

When the chicken was gone and Cas was nibbling on some French Fries from Jody's plate, Sam nonchalantly slid his burger across the table to his brother. Dean blinked in a moment of surprise, but then gave a small twitch of a smile and dug in.

After they were all done, Sam was disappointed that his research still didn't make him feel any more confident about his plan. What if he was wrong? What if he was dragging them all, including a sick Cas, halfway across the country on a wild notion that would never work? Maybe he should have given more thought to the other extraction option…except Sam remembered how excruciating that process had been, and he didn't have the stomach to subject a little boy to it. Not to mention that thing was made to extract grace, and if Cas's soul was somehow made up of bits and pieces of angelic essence…

No, Sam would make this work, because there was no other option.

Jody and Dean argued briefly over who was going to pay the bill, Jody winning.

"Don't think I don't know how you two get by most of the time. I can at least keep you on the up-and-up when I'm around."

Dean rolled his eyes, but it was good-naturedly.

"Can I ride with Sam and Dean for a little while?" Cas spoke up.

Sam straightened, and exchanged a look with Dean, wondering if his brother would be against it. Dean had been more gentle with Cas that evening, so maybe some of that emotional wall he'd built was coming down. Sam hoped so, because deep down he still hoped they could get Cas back, and he didn't want to keep their best friend at arm's length. Even if he wasn't the Cas they used to know.

Jody hesitated, but then turned to look at Dean as well. "Sure," she said carefully. "If that's alright…?"

Dean gave himself a small shake. "Yeah, of course."

They filed out to the parking lot where Jody transferred the booster seat to the back of the Impala, then buckled Cas in and weighed him down with blankets.

"You warm enough?" she asked.

Cas nodded.

Jody mussed his hair. "Okay. See you in a bit." She stepped back and shut the door almost reluctantly, and Sam was struck with just how much Jody and Alex had grown to love Cas as part of their family. And if Sam was successful in removing the nephilim's energy, what would happen to Cas? Sam didn't think he was a pure angel anymore, so would that make him human? Would that mean they would never get their Cas back?

Sam's heart clenched with grief. It wasn't a choice, though. Either they saved Cas—this Cas—or…no, there was no other alternative. They were going to save him. And whatever came after, they would deal with it. Just like they'd had to adjust when Mom came back. She'd been a stranger to Sam, so it hadn't been as hard for him, but he saw how difficult it'd been for Dean to reconcile the memory of their mom with the woman she turned out to be.

And losing their Cas for good…yeah, that hurt more than anything. But Sam believed in this second chance, even if it didn't make things go back to the way they were.

So as soon as they got back on the road, he was once again scrolling through his notes on his tablet, but was interrupted by Cas speaking up from the back seat.

"Do you know any car games?"

Dean tossed a look over his shoulder. "Um, yeah. Sam and I used to play some all the time…crap, that one's not appropriate."

Sam smirked, but then tried to wrack his brain for something. "Hey, didn't we used to play 'I Spy' when we were kids?"

"I know that one!" Cas said.

Sam decided he could put his tablet away for a bit. "Okay, uh, I spy with my eye…"

"Little eye," Dean said.

"What?"

"I spy with my little eye."

"Oh, right." Jeez, it'd been a long time. "I spy with my little eye, something that is…brown."

"Your hair," Cas replied.

Sam smiled. "That is brown, but it wasn't what I was thinking of."

"Mm, Dean's hair."

Sam shook his head. "Nope." He craned his head around to watch Cas purse his mouth and gaze around the car in search of more brown. "Need a clue?"

Cas shook his head adamantly, which made Sam smile again. Yeah, Cas had always been stubborn and determined to do things for himself.

After a few more minutes and Dean giving Sam covert looks of 'how hard are you making this?', Cas finally blurted, "Your jacket!"

"Yep! Okay, you want to take a turn?"

"Um…I spy…"

They played a couple more rounds of that before Cas got hit with a coughing fit that almost made Dean pull over, but Sam managed to twist around and lean across the bench seat in order to help Cas drink from a bottle of water. After that, the kid was utterly spent, and he fell asleep quickly, the prominent wheezes issuing from his lungs filling Sam with a pit of dread. He exchanged a look with Dean, and then called Jody.

"Hey," she answered. "We planning on stopping for the night?"

Sam flicked another concerned look at Cas. It'd probably be good for him to rest in a proper bed, yet at the same time, they didn't know how much time they had left.

"You good to drive straight through?" he asked instead.

Jody was silent for a moment, though Sam heard a muffled exchange between her and Alex.

"Yeah, we can do that," Jody came back with. "Alex can switch with me in a few more hours." She hesitated. "How is Cas doing?"

"He's asleep," Sam replied. "Just…I think the sooner we get there, the better."

Jody let out an audible breath. "Okay."

"Call when you're ready to pull over and switch," Sam said. He'd switch with Dean then, too.

And in the meantime, Sam pulled his tablet back out and started going over his notes from the beginning.

* * *

Jody was getting too old to sleep in the car, and she woke at dawn the following morning with a horrible crick in her neck. She tried to stretch it out, popping a few vertebrae in the process, but what she really needed was to get out and stretch her legs.

"How you doing?" she asked Alex.

"Fine." Alex cast her a sympathetic glance. "Looks like the Winchesters need gas again." She nodded up ahead to where the Impala was pulling off the highway toward a gas station.

"And I need coffee," Jody mumbled, rubbing her face. "Wait, didn't we all fill up at the same time?"

"That thing's a gas guzzler," Alex commented.

Jody smirked. "But stylish. Might as well fill up too while we're here." Even though a glance at the dash showed they still had half a tank.

Alex pulled her car in behind the Impala at the gas pumps and shut off the engine. All of the adults climbed out of the vehicles. "I'll get the coffee," Alex offered.

Jody nodded, already moving past the car to go check on Cas.

"Want anything?" Alex asked the guys.

"Coffee would be great, thanks," Sam replied with relief.

"Maybe a couple breakfast burritos," Dean added.

Alex nodded and headed into the mart.

Jody opened the backdoor and crouched down to see Cas. He was awake, but his eyes were bleary, and when she felt his forehead, he had a touch of fever again. "Hey, Bug, how are you feeling?"

"Tired."

Dean nudged Jody's arm, and she looked up.

"His breathing is getting more labored," he said quietly.

Jody's heart clenched. The mom part of her wanted to stop, find a motel and tuck Cas into bed instead of forcing him to continue on the road in the uncomfortable car seat. But that mom side was equally terrified that if they delayed, it might be too late by the time they arrived in Washington.

"I found a home health supply store in this town," Sam spoke up, scrolling through something on his phone. "We can get an oxygen concentrator for not too much."

Jody's lips thinned. They'd be paying for it with stolen credit cards, but at this point, she had bigger priorities than worrying about fraud. "That'd probably be a good idea."

She went to fill up Alex's car while Dean did the same to the Impala. Alex came back out with coffee and breakfast, and Sam asked her if she minded driving him to the store, which of course she didn't. Jody stayed behind with Cas and Dean, moving the Impala around to the side of the gas station to park and wait.

Jody managed to ply Cas with some water and Children's Tylenol, but Dean was right, his breathing was much more strained than yesterday. Neither she nor Dean could get him to eat some crackers, and he slipped into a restless sleep.

Jody ran both hands over her hair. They were halfway to Washington, and she worried the trip was taking its toll on Cas.

"Did he sleep most of the time?" she asked.

"Mostly," Dean replied. "Played some I Spy."

Jody smiled. She'd been somewhat reluctant to let Cas out of her sight, not that she didn't trust the Winchesters, of course. But she also knew it'd probably be good for them to spend some more time with Cas, get to know him. No matter…no matter what happened, she didn't want them to regret not having this chance.

"I was selfish before," Dean said softly.

Jody frowned, but waited for him to elaborate.

His eyes glistened as he stared through the car window at their sleeping passenger. "All I wanted was Cas back the way he was, and I'd still give anything for that. But- now all I care about is him being alive and safe."

Jody reached out and squeezed his arm in sympathy. "That's not selfish; it's normal."

"And maybe Cas is better off this way," Dean went on. "I mean, not sick, but away from me, away from us. He's died so many times already, been tortured, lost his grace. And if I got him back, the way he was, he'd throw himself right back into the fight, and die again down the line. So maybe this is better—"

"Hey," Jody said firmly. "None of us can say whether this is better or not. Castiel, he wanted to be in the fight with you, wanted to protect people and the world. To him, that was better than anything else. And this Cas…he wants a pony and to go to school. It's not 'better,' it just is. And I'll tell you something else," she added sternly when Dean opened his mouth to respond. "'Better' in either situation is him knowing you and Sam."

"You sure about that?" he replied gruffly.

"Yes." Jody crossed her arms. "The same way my life is better for knowing you guys. And Alex's. And Claire's. Yeah, we've all gone through some rough spots, but I have never once regretted knowing you boys."

"Pretty sure Claire had her moments," Dean muttered.

"She was an angsty teenager; what do you expect?"

Dean fell silent for a moment. "Is that what's best for him, though?"

"I think so." She paused. "But I guess only you can decide if that's true or not—for the right reasons."

He looked away, and Jody didn't try to say anything else, not here. Right now they were racing to buy more time; then they could figure out what to do with it.

Dean suddenly stiffened, gaze narrowing sharply. Jody whirled back toward the window in time to see Cas twitching in his sleep. She yanked the door open just as he cried out.

"Cas." She hastily undid the seatbelt and pulled him into her arms. He jolted awake with a hiccough, which broke down into sobs as he clung to her neck. "Shh, baby, it's okay. I'm right here," Jody soothed as she rocked him back and forth in the parking lot with Dean watching. "Just a bad dream."

His sobs turned to hyperventilating, and Jody rubbed his back frenetically, trying to get him to calm down before he triggered a worse attack. Hopefully Sam and Alex would be back with that machine soon.

"Shh, it's okay."

Dean finally stepped forward and put a hand on Cas's shoulder. "Hey, buddy, do you know what me and Sam do for a living? We chase away monsters and protect people."

Cas's chest hitched a few more times, but his tear-streaked face turned toward Dean.

"And we're so good at our job, that the monsters are afraid of  _us_. So whenever you're scared of something, just tell it that Sam and Dean Winchester are coming to get it, and it'll run away. Okay?"

Cas sucked in a few more ragged breaths, but nodded. His breathing gradually settled into shallow bursts, and he dropped his head onto Jody's shoulder. A few moments later, the rest of his body went limp as exhaustion took hold. Jody continued to rock him in her arms.

Dean gave her an aggrieved look. "You think his dreams are him remembering stuff?" he whispered.

"I don't know," she replied honestly. "Or they're just bad dreams."

Dean nodded solemnly. "Not sure which is worse," he admitted.

Jody wasn't, either.

Sam and Alex eventually got back, and Sam immediately set to getting the oxygen unit out of the box and installing the battery.

"Do you want to move Cas back to your car?" Dean asked.

Jody hesitated, could see the pain in his eyes, like he was reluctant to be away from Cas for a minute for the same reasons she was, even though he was trying not to let himself feel those things. But she nevertheless nodded, and he got the booster seat out of the back of the Impala to transfer back to the other car.

"Are you okay to drive a little more?" Jody asked Alex.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, giving Cas a worried look.

Once Dean got the seat moved, Jody gently set Cas down in it. His eyelids fluttered, but he didn't fully wake, and Jody slipped the oxygen mask over his face while Sam turned the machine on. Cas's tiny breaths fogged up the mask, but after a few puffs, the lines of tension in his face started to smooth out, and his eyes fully closed again, hopefully in a more restful sleep.

Jody climbed into the back next to Cas to watch over him as they finished the last leg of their journey, with all their hopes riding on it.


	10. Chapter 10

Dean eased the Impala to a stop outside the cabin where everything had shattered on that single, fateful night in May. The house was still covered in ivy, but all the blossoms seemed to have collapsed back into themselves, leaving only dark green creepers. Dean put the car in park and shut off the engine, then took a breath to steel himself.

Sam had already gotten out, and was moving around back to where Jody and Alex had parked behind them, and were just now getting out of their car. Dean pushed his door open and went to join them.

Jody took the oxygen mask off Cas, and then lifted him out of the backseat into her arms. He was like a limp doll, not even conscious as his head dropped against her shoulder. They were almost out of time.

"You're up, Sam," Dean said.

A muscle in his brother's jaw ticked. Yeah, no pressure.

Sam cast one last look at his tablet and notepad scribbles in the front passenger side of the Impala, then drew his shoulders back and turned away. Dean knew he'd been over everything dozens and dozens of times; any spell, sigil, or whatever else they might need was stamped onto Sam's brain. It was all or nothing now.

Sam headed around the rear of the cabin toward the lake, and the rest of them followed. The air off the water was chilled, probably due to the fact that the entire thing had thawed only recently. Everything looked just as it had the morning after…the morning after.

Sam stopped a few feet from the water's edge and started chanting something under his breath. Dean didn't know what it was; he'd never paid attention to the magic crap, though maybe he should have. Maybe then he would be able to help instead of standing around waiting and feeling useless.

His eyes and feet began to wander out of that desperate need to take some kind of action, even if it was just looking around, making sure freak-boy hadn't randomly decided to come back to the area as well, make sure there wasn't a tear in space and time that this wild magic had reopened. Though, now that Dean thought about it, he and Sam should have tried coming back here and using that energy to open the portal to get Mom back.

Dean wondered if there'd be enough to do that after they saved Cas.

He decided it didn't matter. They'd find another way to get Mary back.

His gaze fell onto a spot on the ground, and he froze. His throat started to close up. Dammit, they should have covered that…

A flash of blinding light exploded in his mind's eye, followed by Lucifer's smug grin.

Dean wrenched himself away, only to find Jody staring at the scorched earth. She lifted her eyes to his, full of understanding, and Dean was suddenly struck with the horrific thought that if this didn't work, they'd only brought Cas out here to bury him  _again_.

And with that notion, he couldn't keep himself from turning toward the woods and the grave that lay on its edge. The pain threatened to suffocate him. He couldn't do this again, couldn't go through the soul-crushing loss, the cruelty of it all.

And yet Dean found himself veering toward the shade-covered copse. Grass had grown over the mound, completely blending it in with the surrounding foliage, but Dean knew exactly where it was, even without a marker. He came to stand at the base of it, heart turning numb just being this close. He knew the others were several yards away, maybe watching him, maybe watching Sam. Dean kept his back to them, and the background started to narrow down to just the space in front of him.

"Hey, Cas," he whispered.

Hot moisture blurred his vision, and he tipped his head back to keep it from spilling. He hadn't said anything the day they buried him, couldn't think of any words to say to the lake and mountains that they might remember and honor his best friend.

"It wasn't supposed to end like this," he continued in a wafer-thin voice, then shook his head. "What the hell am I saying? I always figured I'd go out bloody, and why would it be any different for you? Hasn't been all the times before. But…but that's just it—you always came back. And now…" Dean cast a glance over his shoulder to where Jody was holding a kid Cas in her arms. He let out a strained half laugh. "You still came back. Gotta say, man, you've taken resurrection to a whole new level this time."

Dean trailed off, eyes fixated on the grave, and then he slowly sank down to his knees, pressing a hand to the cool earth. "You did good, Cas. Protecting Kelly, protecting us. And now it's your turn. So, please, man. If you can hear me…" Dean closed his eyes, head bowed in one last prayer. "Help me save you this time. One last fight, Cas. For us. For everyone who loves you."

Dean had never been a big believer in miracles, but one had happened right here a few months ago. So he prayed with all his might for another.

"I got something," Sam's exhilarated voice shattered the silence.

Dean pushed himself to his feet and turned back toward his brother as Jody and Alex drew closer as well.

"There's still a heavy concentration of magic in the lake," Sam informed them.

"And that's good?" Jody checked.

Sam shifted his weight. "Yeah. I mean, I'm gonna try a spell that will make the energy in the lake sort of call out to the energy in Cas, and that should…draw it out."

He didn't sound one hundred percent confident, and Dean wanted to ask if Sam could promise this wouldn't hurt Cas. But he kept his mouth shut. Dean knew his brother was just as desperate to save Cas as the rest of them, and would never do anything to hurt him. Besides, they had no other choice; Cas was limp and pale in Jody's arms, the last of his life eking out of him.

"Okay," Dean said, and went up to Jody, reaching to take Cas from her. She relinquished him with obvious reluctance, but Dean gave her a stout nod as he cradled Cas's frail form in his arms, and then turned toward the lake.

He couldn't say what compelled him to walk straight for it, and then to not even stop on the edge of the shore, but to continue into the water. It was freezing, and the first wave to splash across his shins and into his boots sent a shudder zinging up through his spine.

Someone sloshed into the water behind him. "Dean?" Sam called.

"Water's cleansing, right?" he said, pausing with the level up to his knees. "So, immersing Cas could help…draw it out?"

Sam looked contemplative for a moment, but then nodded. "Yeah. The nature of water, it could help power the intent of the spell. That's a good idea, Dean."

Maybe his brother was only humoring him, but together they ventured further into the lake, until Dean was soaked up to mid-chest and Cas was nearly submerged. Dean adjusted his arms under Cas's knees and back so that the waves lapped just below Cas's chin. The shock of the glacial water didn't even rouse him, and Dean's heart started to beat faster. They needed to do this now.

Sam moved around to Dean's left, rested his palms down on the surface of the water, and began the incantation. Dean stood there, shivering with bated breath. He suddenly felt as though he were partaking in some strange, baptismal ritual. Which, in a way, he supposed he was. The submersion in water and rising again to represent rebirth and new life. The old Castiel had died on the shore of this lake, and his rebirth had begun here as well. Now it needed to be completed, the symbolism of life and nourishment in water present to revitalize Cas so he could  _live_.

A sense of calm purpose settled over Dean. Whether it was the influence of that wild magic, of Sam's own wielding…or faith, he didn't know. But he took a deep breath, inhaling the heady atmosphere of musky magic.

A light started to glow in the water, golden ripples like that fateful night so many weeks ago. And then Cas's chest started to burn the same color.

Dean prayed for a miracle.

The concentration of golden light in Cas's body began to seep out into the water, intensifying the radiant glow. It suffused around the three of them, and for a split moment, Dean wondered if it'd try going into him and Sam. But he forced himself not to move. The water temperature started to rise, banishing the arctic chill and replacing it with the soothing warmth of a hot spring.

Sam continued his Latin utterances, tone growing lower and more insistent, as though he were engaged in a struggle of two wills. Dean watched tensely, unable to do anything else except hold Cas tightly against the swirling eddies as his brother's monotonous chanting rumbled in his ear.

And then the golden light started to ripple outward and away from them, carried on the currents out to the center of the lake. Dean held his breath as the last of the energy flowed out of Cas and swam away, and then Sam stopped.

They both looked down at Cas, his pallor not as pasty white now that the water lapping over him was warm. But nothing was happening, and Cas remained practically weightless in Dean's arms as the lake currents bobbed around him, almost as though they were gently nudging Dean to just release the child into their waiting embrace. He clung to Cas tighter, tucking the boy's head under his chin and squeezing his eyes closed.

_Please_.

Sam reached out, his large hand able to cup the whole back of Cas's head. He looked wrecked by the devastation of failure.

And then a muffled sound issued from the tiny body, and Dean jerked his head up in time to see Cas's eyelids flutter open.

"Mm, D'n?" he murmured, blinking tiredly.

Dean could only gape at him. "Cas?"

"Cas, hey," Sam gushed, running one hand over Cas's head while the other reached to take one of his hands.

"Hi, Sam." Cas looked at them both in confusion. "What are we doing?" He glanced down at the water he was still mostly submerged in. "You're not supposed to go swimming in clothes."

Dean choked on a laugh. "Our mistake."

Sam's expression melted into a slack-jawed grin, and they turned to start making their way back to shore. Jody and Alex were waiting for them at the water's edge, and as soon as Dean carried Cas fully out of the lake and set him on his own two feet, Jody flung a blanket over the boy's shoulders and pinched it closed in front of him.

"Hey, baby, how are you feeling?" she asked, running a worried hand over his face and sopping hair.

"Wet."

"Do you feel sick?" Alex pressed.

Cas tilted his head up. "No. I feel better now."

The collective looks of relief they all shared made Dean's legs feel like jelly.

Cas craned his head around to look at all of them. "Can we get ice cream?"

Jody let out a half-delirious laugh, and tapped him under the chin. "Absolutely. Let's get a change of clothes first." She and Alex started to lead Cas back up toward the house.

Dean lingered behind and turned to his brother. "You did it, Sam. I- I'm proud of you."

Sam smiled, and clapped him on the shoulder. "We did it."

The three of them against the odds. Again.

Dean nodded, and they began their trudge up to the house. Dean paused halfway there to look back at the unmarked grave. A pang hit his chest, but it was one of…acceptance. Farewell.

Closure.

_You'll be all right now,_  he said.  _And- and so will we. I promise_.

* * *

Jody stood with her arms crossed, one fist tucked under her chin as she tensely watched Roma give Cas another reading. They were all gathered in Jody's living room, her and Alex, Sam and Dean, with Roma sitting on the couch and Cas standing before her, his tiny hands captured gently in hers. Since the lake, Cas had been back to his normal self, talking and laughing, plenty of energy. But Sam couldn't tell whether the spell he'd cast had gotten rid of  _all_  the harmful magic, and so Jody had convinced Roma to come out one more time.

The psychic finally disengaged, and when she let go of Cas's hands, she lifted a stunned gaze to theirs.

"Well?" Dean demanded.

"The wild magic I sensed before is completely gone," she said disbelievingly. "How on earth did you manage that?"

"We found a way," Sam answered evasively. "So, he's okay now? No more getting sick?"

Roma shook her head. "His aura is stable and his soul intact. So, as far as I can guess, yes. He should be perfectly fine from here on out."

"Is- is he human?" Dean asked somewhat tensely.

Roma gave him an odd look; Jody hadn't thought to even ask that question the first few times the woman had given Cas a reading.

"Yes." The psychic then canted her head thoughtfully, and reached to take Cas's hands again as she looked him in the eye. "But you have a very special soul inside of you. Take good care of it."

Cas gazed back at her for a moment before nodding solemnly. Jody didn't know if he truly understood what the woman meant, or if he was just responding to the seriousness in her tone. Either way, he was going to be okay, and that was all that mattered.

Jody thanked Roma for once again coming out, and walked her to the door.

The psychic paused on the threshold. "I'm glad you shouldn't be needing me any more in the future."

Jody smiled, and nodded in gratitude.

"But if you do, you know my number. And rates."

Jody smirked. "I'll be sure to keep your name on hand for any associates who might need your expertise."

Roma dipped her head in acknowledgement, and left.

Jody shut the door and turned back to Cas, Alex, and Sam, who were gathered around the couch and exchanging heartfelt smiles. Jody noticed that Dean was standing a bit off to the side near the stairs. He was smiling too as he watched them, but there was a glimmer of sadness in his eyes.

Jody went over to him. "Hey," she said quietly. "You okay?"

His expression pinched. "Yeah, I think so. It's just…I still miss him."

"We still don't know about the memories," she pointed out.

Dean shook his head. "It's better if he doesn't remember. He's human now. He has to start over, has to grow up."

"He gets to grow up," Jody reminded him.

Dean watched as Sam said something that made Cas laugh. "Yeah. Yeah, he does. Are you sure about adopting him?"

Jody smiled. She'd never been more sure of anything. "What's one more wayward orphan?" She paused. "Are you going to be part of his life?"

Dean hesitated for a brief second, but then nodded. "He's family. And he's getting a second chance at a life away from war and death…a chance to be happy in a way I don't think he ever got to be before."

Jody took a moment to contemplate that, how Castiel the angel had been around since nearly the beginning of time, always a warrior of Heaven, always fighting to protect humanity. Claire had talked about him a few times, even went so far as to suggest the angel was a walking PTSD case. It was hard to reconcile that image with the innocent little boy that had found his way into their lives.

"We just can't let him grow up to be a hunter," Dean added ruefully.

Jody snorted. "Oh, trust me, I'm gonna be pushing law school. Or a pottery major. Anything as far away from hunting and monsters as possible."

Thankfully, that was  _several_  years away.

Dean smirked in apparent agreement, but then fell into a melancholic silence again. "Sam and me should get back out there," he said quietly.

Jody nodded in understanding. "Just don't stay away too long."

"We won't," he said with a full assurance that made her believe he fervently intended to keep that promise.

Dean finally moved away from the corner and went to approach Cas, kneeling on the floor to be eye level with him. Jody watched as Dean pulled a small clay figure she recognized from inside his jacket. Dean handed the angel to Cas.

"Thank you. It did help me find my friend. I was wondering if you'd hold onto it for me, for safe keeping."

Cas's face fell. "You're leaving?"

"For a little bit. But we'll be back to visit, often. I promise."

Cas looked down at the tiny angel thoughtfully. "Do you have other people to save?"

Dean exchanged a quick look with Sam before reaching out to touch Cas's shoulder. "Yeah, we do. But remember what I told you: any time you get scared, know that me and Sam are out there chasing the monsters away. And…" He pursed his mouth, then tapped the clay figurine. "There's an angel watching over you."

Cas's mouth tugged upward in a small smile, and he threw his arms around Dean's neck. Dean hugged back tightly.

When he was done, Sam got down on the floor to give Cas a hug too. "You be good for Jody, alright?" he said, voice sounding a little choked up.

Cas nodded fervently. "I will."

"Okay. And maybe you can convince her to plant some pumpkins in your garden. We could carve one for Halloween."

"Okay!"

Jody shook her head, not sure Cas even knew what Halloween was yet, but just warmed that he was excited about doing anything with the Winchesters.

The rest of them took their turns giving each other farewell hugs. Jody wished them luck finding their mother, to which they nodded soberly, but with renewed determination. They all filed out of the house, and Jody watched from the front lawn as Sam and Dean climbed into the Impala. The boisterous engine roared to life, and then started backing out of the driveway. The boys waved to the three of them, Jody on one side, Alex on the other, and Cas wedged between them. She knew they'd be back, and that they'd start becoming a more permanent fixture in her life.

Which she had no complaints about. Her family had grown yet again, brought together by a little miracle no one had looked for, but one they would all cherish from this point forward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not too sad an ending I hope, even though we didn't get "our Cas" back. :)


End file.
